Today was the last day of the semester for me at Temple. \u00a0It’s that time again\u2014 time to shake hands with some of those students, saying good luck. \u00a0I’m usually very proud of my students leaving my classes as better musicians. \u00a0I wish if I could keep track of their progress, each one of them.<\/p>\n
There are a few things I repeat in my class. \u00a0Thought I’d collect them here so that my students could come back to them if they want to. \u00a0Most of those tidbits are about music, not just about conducting. \u00a0Perhaps I’ll keep updating this post to keep track of my own progress…<\/p>\n
For My Students: Some\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span> you will study\u00a0<\/span>advanced conducting and learn more about the score study\/preparation.\u00a0 Perhaps some of you will advance to the\u00a0<\/span>graduate programs and take helpful courses like <\/span>Stylistic Analysis<\/i> along the way. \u00a0<\/span>Perhaps eventually you will learn to make an extensive graph or a\u00a0<\/span>chart of the music you are preparing. \u00a0Your knowledge will hone your musical intuition.\u00a0 But remember\u2014 knowing the context<\/strong> of the\u00a0music is the foundation<\/em> of your preparation.\u00a0 If you were a chef, you would be keener on\u00a0<\/span>mastering your knifing technique or knowing your herbs and spices, but what if\u00a0<\/span>you don\u2019t know how to pick the right ingredients at a grocery store?\u00a0 Know about the dish you are preparing,\u00a0<\/span>especially if the dish is from an established cuisine.\u00a0 Why do you want to use this meat instead of\u00a0<\/span>that meat?\u00a0 What kind of onion do you\u00a0<\/span>need?\u00a0 If you want to be truer to the\u00a0<\/span>music you are preparing, start the preparation by diving into the environment\/circumstance\u00a0<\/span>(including performance practice) in which the piece was conceived.\u00a0 The more you know, the more plausible and\u00a0<\/span>convincing your interpretation will become.<\/span><\/p>\n Music making as group\u00a0experience<\/b><\/p>\n Remember that our judgment\u00a0is easily swayed by out sentiment.\u00a0 We\u00a0<\/span>find comfort in familiar territory. \u00a0Perhaps you love your home cooking even when it isn\u2019t really good.\u00a0 You still like the song you shared with your\u00a0<\/span>best friend even when the song is extremely dull.\u00a0 You are going to see the Disney Star Wars\u00a0<\/span>movies anyway even when you don\u2019t doubt that you\u2019ll be disappointed.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 It’s\u00a0the sentimental attachment.<\/p>\n Take advantage of it in\u00a0your music making.\u00a0 If you are leading a\u00a0<\/span>group, show how much you love what you do and how much you love the piece\u00a0(or just psych \u02bcem out).\u00a0 Let them attach\u00a0their sentimental value to what you do together.\u00a0 And if you can get your ensemble excited\u00a0about the music making, the audience will love it too, just by seeing that your\u00a0ensemble is into it.<\/p>\n It\u2019s about the process,\u00a0and it\u2019s about the experience.\u00a0 So, even\u00a0<\/span>when you get frustrated in rehearsals, be patient, my young padawans.\u00a0 If you are conducting, don’t enforce your\u00a0ideas to the musicians. \u00a0Instead, help them understand what you want to\u00a0do, and ask them to help you.\u00a0 Always\u00a0know what you want to hear <\/span>thoroughly<\/em> and <\/span>in detail<\/em>.\u00a0 Among the musicians, try to have mutual\u00a0<\/span>respect, and trust them to do their part.<\/p>\n If you are conducting, it\u00a0is your job to let the players and\/or singers do their things to the best of\u00a0<\/span>their abilities.\u00a0 Unify the spirits, but\u00a0don’t get in their way<\/em>.\u00a0 Provide the environment\/situation for them to do well.\u00a0 Aim for\u00a0collective happiness!<\/p>\n Art of performing<\/b>\u00a0[.. or\u00a0small part of it that young musicians may want to remember<\/em>]<\/p>\n Time is on your side.\u00a0\u00a0The time expressions are what make you true artists. \u00a0Agogic accents, cadential gestures, between\u00a0musical events\/phrases, after the cut-offs, at your solo sections…. take your time.\u00a0 Don’t rush. \u00a0You know that I’m not talking about tempo.<\/p>\n Notice irregularities, surprises, and oddities in music and expose them as such! \u00a0Deceptive cadences are supposed to be deceptive, and execute them as such. \u00a0The notes that hint an upcoming modulation should be presented in the way that the audience can take the hint. \u00a0Don’t go automatic. \u00a0Be a good storyteller.<\/p>\n Recognize what’s beautiful in music and pay attention to it. \u00a0Love it. \u00a0Again, don’t go automatic. \u00a0Savor and enjoy those delicious<\/em> dissonances, and tastefully resolve them.<\/p>\n Guys, the sky is the limit\u2014 go out there and enjoy music or whatever you do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today was the last day of the semester for me at Temple. \u00a0It’s that time again\u2014 time to shake hands with some of those students, saying good luck. \u00a0I’m usually very proud of my students leaving my classes as better musicians. \u00a0I wish if I could keep track of their progress, each one of them. There are a few things I repeat in my class. \u00a0Thought I’d collect them here so that my students could come back to them if they want to. \u00a0Most of those tidbits are about music, not just about conducting. \u00a0Perhaps I’ll keep updating this post to keep track of my own progress… For My Students: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,9],"tags":[40,106],"class_list":["post-473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-blog","category-music","tag-conducting","tag-temple","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bachpeople.com\/jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nOn<\/b> Preparation<\/strong><\/p>\n