A Hundred Thousand Thanks to our Irish Hosts!
Our Irish hosts greeted us with Céad Míle Fáilte (a hundred thousand welcomes) and they have delivered excellent hospitality and artistic content, making this week an unforgettable experience for all who attended the Conference. A hundred thousand thanks to Fergus O'Carroll and the volunteer committee for their years of dedication in producing such a top drawer international event.
Podcast Episode 8: Looking Back With Fergus
It's only appropriate that we finish the podcast where we started it, with 2007 LOC Chair Fergus O'Carroll. He reflects on the Conference (all that he saw of it) and provides some behind-the-scenes insight. We discuss the things that the Irish contributed that are likely to continue in future Conferences. We also speak about the differences between a "legacy" and a "city event" Conference bid.
July 25 Update (2 items added)
The Priest and His Servant Balda
Perhaps the most striking event of the week was Thursday’s performance of a lost Shostakovich opera, The Priest and His Servant Balda, under the leadership of Norwegian conductor Odd Terje Lysbo. Quoting from the program notes,
The project was originally a full-length animated opera by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky, with music by Shostakovich. However the movie and most of the music was destroyed during WWII. In 1980 the project was realized as an opera…[and] now has been further edited by Odd Terje Lysebo after new discoveries….
Lysebo commissioned an animation company to create a new film, as only three minutes of the original film was in existence. This original excerpt was incorporated into the opening of the new version. The video was used in combination with live actors, wind ensemble (with cello and string bass) accompaniment, a small choir, and vocal soloists. The animation purposefully imitated the appearance of shadow-puppet theatre, drawing connections with another classic story-telling tradition. Thus, in order to create a uniform look, the live actors had costumes that seemed animated, with exaggerated features, large hollow eyes, and disproportionate bodies.
The basic story is that of a priest, his wife and daughter, a servant named Balda, and various devils. The gullible priest is searching for cheap labor, and is delighted to find Balda who is willing to work one year for no money: all he asks is to smack the priest three times over the head at the end of the year. All is well on the farm during the year, and Balda and the priest’s daughter fall in love. The priest sends Balda on what he thinks is an impossible journey in order to have an excuse to fire him, in order to avoid the humiliation of receiving three bonks to the head. Balda is ordered to go to the lake where the devil lives in order to collect a payment that is owed to the priest. After much manipulation and some humerous physical competitions, Balda does in fact win his master’s back pay. Upon Balda’s return, he demands his wages, and his hits to the priest’s head causes the minister to go insane.
The production was unlike any theatre event I have ever seen. The flow between the music, animation, live acting, and singing was flawless and logically connected. The video and acting alternated, with the screen becoming simple backgrounds to the actors. While it was unusual to have one character represented by two people, an actor and a singer, it provided for much more freedom on stage, and allowed for some interesting moments when the singers moved onto the stage and interacted with their character. Even the band was involved in the action: players held devil puppets in one scene, and in the prior scene Balda actually came over and pushed Lysebo off the podium and conducted a piece himself!
The music was unmistakably Shostakovich, containing scales, modes, melodic constructions, and folk elements that we have all come to associate with him. The folk element became central in several pieces, as some songs were accompanied with just an accordion or a balalaika, the three-stringed triangle-shaped Russian lute. In another piece, the tenor saxophone player walked to the opposite edge of the stage to play a beautiful duet. Overall, the music was most often light-hearted.
One element that was a bit confusing was Shostakovich’s choice to have some of the characters change vocal parts. For instance, the priest’s wife was usually sung by a soprano, but at one point it moved to the bass. The priest was both a bass and a tenor. Since the play had no sub-titles and the actors’ mouths didn’t move, this made sometimes made it difficult to tell who was speaking.
The quality of the performance was excellent. The technological aspect of coordinating video and amplified singers was flawless, and the sound was well-balanced between instruments and voices. The orchestra played with great character and style. The actors created wonderful characters: the grumpy priest, the frumpy wife, the flittering daughter, and the macho and confident Balda who walked with a great gait. The devils provided some excellent contrast as well, especially the Little Devil who had limbs made out of what looked like Slinkys, requiring two actors to create amazing visual gags. There were some minor first-night jitters, it seemed, especially from the narrator who occasionally seemed uncertain of where he was supposed to go.
Each performing ensemble that came to WASBE brought something new to the audience, and this is certainly one of the most compelling reasons to attend a convention such as this. Special kudos to Odd Terje Lysebo for pushing this no-longer-lost work to the stage; it is a marvelous work and I am delighted to know that it will receive many more performances in the future as this production tours around Norwegian schools next year.
International Youth Wind Orchestra
The International Youth Wind Orchestra (IYWO) was comprised of fifty students ranging in age from 18 to 25 from thirteen countries: Australia, Canada, Colombia, Estonia, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the UK, and the USA. They were led by two conductors, Glenn Price from the University of Calgary, Canada, and Gerhard Markson, Principle Conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony in Dublin, Ireland. The choice of enlisting Markson was a strategic one of the WASBE board in order to build more connections between the wind ensemble “bubble” and the larger community of classical music.
The IYWO played remarkably. The repertoire presented was immensely challenging, and they had very little time to prepare it: just one week of rehearsals. The group sounded professional in all respects. I am certain that the students has a remarkable time working with two outstanding conductors, a world-famous soloist, and two composers, one of which was commissioned to write for the IYWO.
The highlight of the concert for me was Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto, transcribed for band by Andrew Boysen Jr., and performed by Dame Evelyn Glennie. I have heard this work before, but Glennie’s performance brought the piece to a new level through her commanding performance that clearly communicated the essence of the work. Through this she was able to connect the more unusual elements of the piece into a logical whole.
The piece has two elements that are most unusual for a concerto. First is the fact that the soloist plays from the back of the orchestra for the first and third movement, coming to the traditional front of stage for the second movement only. This, according to Glennie, was due to the fact that the work was composed for Christopher Lamb, principle percussionist for the New York Philharmonic. Schwantner wanted to showcase not just the soloist, but also how the soloist works within the section. This is the second unusual aspect of the work: the soloist often plays ensemble passages, whether unison mallet parts in the first movement, or simple triangle and metallic percussion gestures in the second movement. Glennie used stage lighting and tall risers in order to create a more vibrant back-stage solo area, as well as spot lights to highlight her movement from one set-up to another. She had purple lights on her second-movement set-up, which is musically more reflective. Her body language helped the audience understand how her parts fit in, as ensemble or solo passages. Glennie played with great passion, grace, and fire, including a lengthy cadenza on drums in the final movement, and the audience received her very well.
The other four pieces on the program suffered by comparison to the Schwantner and each other. The works were in many ways too similar: rhythmic, well-crafted, post-tonal color-oriented works that would sound refreshing next to Grainger, Ives, Maslanka, Mendelssohn, or pieces in other styles, but began to sound dull when programmed together. In addition, after all the excitement that Sir Simon Rattle generated by his fresh interpretations of Grainger wind works, I was hoping to see a similar event with Markson. However, Markson chose or was assigned three contemporary pieces, eliminating this possibility.
John Estacio’s Frenergy opened the concert, a fast energetic work that still retained a nice sense of melody and lightness. It was performed with pleasant character, and was precise technically.
Resonance, by Christopher Marshall, opened the second half. It is one of the many pieces commissioned by Tim and Hilary Reynish in memory of their son, William. The work employs a variety of styles and sounds: gentle passages, a street march, dark—almost eerie—melodies, then closes with a chorale from which most of the earlier sections were derived. A listener could see it as either oddly fragmented or as a refreshing post-modern work, mixing styles without necessarily ascribing value to them. This work definitely merits further listening and study.
Ian Wilson was present for the première of his work Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel. He gave a pre-concert talk where he discussed his experiences writing the piece, his first for wind ensemble. The work was inspired by and named after the moons of Uranus, whose individual characters shaped the form or compositional ideas for each movement. The result was a complex, thick piece, dense with counterpoint and disjointed melodies. It was highly dissonant, and was difficult to grasp in the first hearing. This work was rehearsed by Markson in an open rehearsal, where he stripped the opening down to each individual line. These sections made much more sense to the listener, leading me to believe that, while difficult at first, Wilson’s work might come alive through multiple exposures.
Richard Rodney Bennett’s Morning Music was the final piece on the concert. As with all of Bennett’s work, Morning Music is superbly orchestrated, contains interesting harmonic structures, and keeps the listener’s attention. This work, based on the poetry of Wordsworth, contains seven movements: a prelude, five variations, and a finale. The IYWO performed it wonderfully.
July 20 Update (5 items added)
Podcast Episode 7: The High-flying IYWO Edition
Trans-Atlantic flights can be boring, but not when you fly with members of the 2007 International Youth Wind Orchestra. I spoke with saxophonists Corah Enns and Ian Smith on our way back to Canada about their IYWO experience and the highlights of the week for them. Our lawyers also get a word in.
Finishing the Choral Thread With Ripley and Brahms
Considering this week’s emphasis on music for chorus and winds, including a panel discussion, several premieres, and a performance of Stravinsky’s mass, it seems only appropriate that one of the final research sessions would approach the same topic. “Transcribing Greatness: A choral masterwork with varied performance options for winds – Begräbnisgesang, Op. 13, by Johannes Brahms,” was presented by James Ripley, from Carthage College (Kenosha, WI) on Saturday morning at 11 a.m.
Begräbnisgesang was originally scored for 12 winds, timpani, and SATB chorus. Written in 1858, it reflects an interest in Bach that partly grew from Brahms’ experience organizing Robert Schumann’s library (Schumann was hospitalized at the time and died a few years later). Indeed, for part of the presentation Dr. Ripley illuminated several ways in which the work echoes Bach’s music, notably Cantata 4, Christ lag in Todesbanden, movement 2. Some of these influences include imitation, trio sonata textures, and chant like melodies.
Dr. Ripley has transcribed Brahms’ work for concert band in an arrangement that works with or without chorus. Most of the original wind parts are intact, though he has taken a few liberties, such as rescoring some parts for the concert band’s full brass choir (the original ensemble carries no trumpets) and reinforcing lines with a few doublings. He avoided filling out chordal textures and included only a few octave doublings, mostly below the original pitch.
As a funeral song, Begräbnisgesang is somber but not plodding. Its technical demands are modest, and thus it is well within the reach of high school, community, and even some middle school ensembles. Musically, of course, it is more demanding, though Dr. Ripley demonstrated its accessibility by playing a recording by a high school ensemble. By his own admission it was an unbalanced, imperfect performance, and yet it was quite refreshing to listen to! How many directors have been misled by impeccable promotional recordings that hide the challenges younger students may have? Even under these circumstances it was clear this piece was musically satisfying and sensitively scored. (Perhaps this could be the beginning of a trend: True-to-life publisher recordings!)
In any event, Dr. Ripley’s arrangement is not currently for sale, but he asks directors to contact him directly if they are interested in the parts (jripley@carthage.edu).
Concierto de la Banda Sinfonica Real de Vooruit, Harelbeke, Belgica
El 11vo Concierto de la 13 Conferencia Mundial WASBE estuvo a cargo de la Banda Sinfonica Real de Vooruit, Harelbeke, bajo la direccion de Geert Verschaeve.
Nada de lo que se escucho esta semana en la conferencia se asemeja a lo que se pudo escuchar esta noche con la banda de Vooruit. Sonido suntuoso, sinfonico, de mucha flexibilidad y riqueza timbrica, son la marca de fabrica de la mayoria de las bandas de la region de los paises bajos, como asi tambien lo son las de la region española de Valencia. El objetivo primario es el de imitar a la orquesta sinfonica en la manera de producir el sonido, para lograr un resultado blando, ampuloso e indirecto en la articulacion. Naturalmente este concepto representa solo una tendencia o escuela de las varias existentes en la actualidad. Lo fascinante de las orquestas como la Vooruit, es que a pesar del numero elevado de musicos que conforman el efectivo, el sonido esta siempre controlado y la ejecucion es precisa.
El programa presentado por esta banda, ganadora de la ultima edicion del famoso concurso mundial (World Music Contest) de Kerkrade, Holanda, fue de gran calidad musical. La primera parte comenzo con « Tombelène » del compositor belga Godfried Devreese (1893 – 1972). La obra, de estilo neo-impresionista, con una duracion de 10 minutos, es original para orquesta sinfonica, la transcripcion para banda fue realizada por el hijo de Devreese, Fréderic Devreese.
A continuacion se escucho una rareza, del compositor de origen latvio Peteris Vasks (1946), « Concierto para Corno Ingles », que tuvo como solista a Dmitri Mestdag. No es comun escuchar obras para corno ingles como instrumento solista. La obra, articulada en cuatro movimientos ininterrumpidos a lo largo de 23 minutos, propone pasajes liricos que contrastan con pasajes agitados, mas disonantes, con el uso de recursos de la musica minimalista. La parte solista es de gran dificultad, y ofrece pocos momentos de reposo. El mejor registro del corno ingles es el central, y es el que mas se escucha a lo largo de toda la obra, tornando ciertos pasajes un poco monotonos.
Luego de la pausa, se presento otro concierto, esta vez con el clarinete como instrumento solista, « Divertimento para Clarinete », de Roland Coryn (1938), con Marc Vertessen como solista. La obra de Coryn, antiguo rector de la Academia de Musica de Harelbeke, es ligera en caracter, y muy virtuosa para el solista. Lo remarcable de la escritura es que el clarinete nunca fue cubierto por la gran masa sonora de la banda, que no redujo su efectivo para presentar esta obra de casi 9 minutos de duracion.
El gran final del concierto fue para la reciente obra del holandes, Jacob de Haan (1959), uno de los compositores mas estimados y mas tocados en la escena musical de bandas amateurs europeas. « Cantica de Sancto Benedicto » presentada en estreno mundial, es una obra para coro, soprano solista y banda. La solista invitada de la noche fue la soprano irlandesa Daire Halpin.
Cantica de Sancto Benedicto, de casi 25 minutos de duracion, posee un lenguaje armonico accesible, basado en secuencias armonicas simples, para sostener melodias rapidamente memorizables. La obra fue un encargo de la ciudad italiana de Norcia, donde nacio San Benedicto.
El buen concierto de la banda Vooruit de Harelbeke, termino con un largo aplauso. Luego de que se repitiera, a manera de bis, la ultima parte de la cantata.
Concierto de la Banda Sinfonica Internacional Juvenil de WASBE
El 12vo concierto de la semana fue otro de los puntos culminantes de esta 13.conferencia mundial WASBE.
Esta banda juvenil, es un grupo de alrededor 50 talentosos musicos provenientes de todo el mundo. El objetivo de la banda es el de presentar lo mejor de la literatura actual escrita para el medio, bajo la direccion de maestros de una solida reputacion internacional. La banda ensaya a lo largo de toda la semana en que dura la conferencia, para presentar su concierto a manera de cierre durante la ultima jornada.
Los dos maestros para la ocasion fueron Gerhard Markson, director titular de la Orquesta Nacional de Irlanda, y el flamante presidente de WASBE, el canadiense Glenn Price.
La primera parte del concierto, bajo la precisa y vigilante direccion de Price, comenzo con « Frenergy » de John Estacio (1966). Frenergy, de 5 minutos de duracion, es una amalgama de dos palabras que bien pueden describir el caracter de esta corta obertura, frenetica y energetica ; (« frenetic » y « energy ») lo que ademas da origen a su titulo.
El punto central del programa, fue la participacion estelar de la primera solista de percusion de la historia, la gran Evelyn Glennie. Glennie habia participado durante la semana en una serie de charlas y clases magistrales de gran interes pedagogico.
La obra elegida para la ocasion fue el grandioso « Concierto para Percusion » de Joseph Schwantner (1943), en una transcripcion para banda de Andrew Boysen Jr.« Concierto para percusion » fue un engargo de la Orquesta Filarmonica de Nueva York para celebrar su 150 aniversario, que tuvo lugar en 1992, con Christopher Lamb como solista, bajo la batuta de Leonard Slatkin.
La version propuesta por Glennie y Price, fue de alto vuelo poetico, Price, dirigiendo de memoria, no interrumpio jamas el discurso establecido entre Glennie y un publico cautivado durante casi los 30 minutos de accion sonora.Luces y una leve sonorizacion de la percusion contribuyeron a crear un momento unico.
La segunda parte, bajo la direccion de Gerhard Markson, comenzo con « Resonance » del compositor neocelandes Christopher Marshall (1956). Marshall, conocido por su lenguaje de mixturas libres de musicas pop, folkloricas y de origen clasico, propone un mosaico interesante, en esta obra de 11 minutos, accesible incluso bandas de nivel medio.
El concierto continuo con el estreno mundial de « Miranda, Ariel, Umbriel » del joven Ian Wilson (1964). La obra, de gran densidad contrapuntistica de 12 minutos de duracion, fue sponsorizada por World Projets, la compañia que tiene una activa participacion en los proyectos de WASBE.
El muy buen concierto de la banda sinfonica internacional juvenil culmino con el clasico « Morning Music » de Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (1936) para culminar una semana brillante de musica e intercambio entre los estudiantes de mas de 20 paises.
Concierto de la Banda Sinfonica de la Armada Suiza
La Banda Sinfonica de la Armada Suiza fue la encargada de cerrar el 13 Congreso Mundial de WASBE en lo que fue el concierto numero 13 de esta intensa semana.
El programa elegido por Philipp Wagner y Jan Cober, director titular y director invitado permanente, respectivamente, tuvo como estrategia mostrar que las bandas europeas pueden abordar un repertorio de concierto de alto nivel, y que al mismo tiempo pueden cumplir otro tipo de funcion, mas social, en ambitos que se encuentran fuera de los muros de una sala de teatro. La funcion social de las bandas fue siempre importantisima a lo largo de la historia, no solo como vehiculo cultural, sino como animadora de ceremonias religiosas, militares o burguesas. Europa ha continuado con esta tradicion de manera ininterrumpida hasta nuestros dias.
El concierto abrio, como dicho sea de paso lo hacen todavia muchas bandas amateurs europeas, con una marcha, « Marcha del Regimiento de Infanteria 33 » del suizo Paul Huber (1918 – 2001), para dar paso a « March Winds », tercer movimiento de la Symphony of Winds de Dereck Bourgeois (1941), ambas obras son de corta duracion, 3 y 6 minutos respectivamente, y prepararon la atmosfera para « Big Jig , an Irish Radio Fantasy » fantasia del joven compositor suizo Thierry Besançon (1979).
Besançon propuso un collage de musicas basadas en los paises que la banda suiza toco en esta gira 2007, Austria e Irlanda. Para representar Austria, el compositor recurre nada menos que a la escritura dodecafonica, representante de lo que se conoce como la segunda escuela de Viena, escritura que sera constantemente confrontada por la musica folklorica irlandesa, la representante del pais organizador de esta conferencia. La duracion de la obra es de 11 minutos y fue una de las atracciones del programa, con sus tres locutores de radio, grupo de violoncellos y banda, en una fiesta de color y humor.
La primera parte del programa cerro con « Dionysiaques, Op. 62 » del compositor frances Florent Schmitt (1870 – 1958) con Jan Cober en el podio. Dionysiaques es una de las grandes obras del repertorio bandistico de principios del siglo XX. De una dificultad extrema, representa aun hoy uno de los mas grandes desafios para cualquier banda. El gran nivel de la banda de la armada suiza permitio una version inigualable.
Luego de la pausa, el concierto continuo con la gran obra de Oliver Waespi (1971) « Temples », basada en la historia de las ruinas de los templos de Angkor, Cambodia. Los templos representan varios siglos de la historia Khmer, una de las culturas mas antiguas del sureste asiatico, que posee como caracteristica el hecho de tener influencias hindues y budistas. Waespi combina ademas cuatro textos biblicos del libro de eclesiastes para cada uno de los templos. La obra, de 25 minutos de duracion, es de una sonoridad densa y cautivante. Las trompetas y los trombones se ubican a ambos costados del auditorio, mientras el resto de la banda queda en el escenario. El efecto de espacialidad es muy interesante, el auditor queda literalmente envuelto de sonido durante toda la obra.
Para finalizar este concierto, de quizas una de las mejores formaciones de la semana, Jan Cober eligio a modo homenaje, tres pequeñas piezas de tres ilustres compositores europeos recientemente fallecidos. « Estas tres personas han hecho mucho para el desarrollo de nuestras bandas, sobre todo escribiendo musica de caracter pedagogico, y queremos rendirles homenaje » explico Cober. Los tres compositores citados fueron, el frances Serge Lancen, el español Armando Blanquer y el holandes Henk van Lijnschooten.
La anecdota del concierto se produjo durante la ejecucion de Dionysiaques, unos ruidos detras del escenario obligaron a recomenzar la obra, una vez finalizado el programa, para contar con una version sin ruidos para la produccion del CD del concierto.
No Regular Site Updates Scheduled until July 23
We've had a very busy week, and our travels back home will take us away for a while, so look for the regular WASBE Web Site to return on or about July 23. You can still access the site, but no content updates are scheduled to be made until then. If additonal Conference articles are added, an update time will be listed at the top of the page.
Many Thanks to our Contributors
Coverage like this of an event this size does not happen with the efforts of just one or two people. WASBE is indebted to the following people for their contributions to the web site during the Conference and for the Conference archive:
- John Stanley (coodinator; USA)
- Peter Bucher (Switzerland)
- Dwayne Corbin (USA)
- Marc Crompton (Canada)
- Miguel Etchegoncelay (France)
- Evan Feldman (USA)
- Jessica Kun (Canada)
- Russell McCutcheon (USA)
- Christopher Morehouse (USA)
- Jon Mitchell (USA)
- Erica Neidlinger (USA)
- Chris Woodruff (USA)
Podcast Episode 6: General Meeting News
The Conference is over, but the Podcast isn't! We bring you the news highlights from the Biennial General Meetings, including election results, the announcement of the 2011 Conference location (tipped off in Episode 5) and the rest of our interview with Glenn Price, now President of WASBE.
WASBE Nightlife
At the completion of each evening concert WASBE members have been enjoying late night activities as part of the “WASBE club.” Events have included Irish music and Irish dance lessons, a rousing percussion ensemble performance, and a video presentation on the life of Dr. Frederick Fennell. One of the highlights of these late night sessions was a cabaret performance by the Nanset Wind Ensemble of Norway, conducted by Odd Terje Lysebo.
This was the third WASBE performance for the Nanset Wind Ensemble in two days. After a highly successful performance on Thursday evening and a performing for a research session during the day on Friday, they were in the spotlight again Friday night. What a performance! The Nanset Wind Ensemble consisted of many fine players and was also traveling with talented vocalists. The ensemble performed from the parquet floor with vocalists perched above on the staircase landing. Lighting and theatrics were all part of the show, including a young man who performed with a bright blue feather boa! A great variety of repertoire included the music of composers such as Hanns Eisler, Kurt Weill, and Igor Stravinsky. Some of the selections performed were Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto and Weill’s songs Berlin im Licht, Oh, the Rio Grande, and Captain Valentines Song.
WASBE members relaxed and enjoyed the company of friends and the wonderful entertainment until late into the evening. This energetic and spirited performance was a highly creative and successful way to end the events of the day.
Neidlinger Breathes Life Into the Final Research Session
We have had some great sessions this week in the 12:15 slot, but I must confess that this was a time of day where my body said one of two things: "eat" or "sleep." Today, I had no such problem, Perhaps it was the fact that we had a slightly later start today. Perhaps it was because I sat up front. Maybe I have become accustomed to it. More likely, however, was the engaging session itself.
Dr. Erica Neidlinger's presentation on conducting, as informed by the work of Rudolf Laban, was for me a highlight of the week. Not since Bud Beyer's appearance at the 1999 Conference have we had such a fantastic conducting pedagogy session. Thoroughly professional and engaging, Neidlinger covered a large amount of territory without overwhelming the audience. She used well-known musical examples (as she would with her own students) to make things easy to digest in a short time period. We also got a chance to get up and do a few conducting exercises (that, too, may have helped ward off the mid-day blahs).
I am not going to try to condense 60 minutes of content into a single article. If you want all that information, you should book Erica for your next regional band directors' conference. In fact, the greatest difficulty in writing this review has been to limit this article to a reasonable length. So here are some key concepts — both new and old — that I took home with me.
In conducting, we often speak of hinges (e.g., the wrist, the elbow, the shoulder). A hinge we don't often think of is the sternum. We may overlook it because of societal posture problems (at least for us in North America), but if we open this up (or intentionally move from a more closed position to an open position), we can often create a marked improvement in our ability to communicate our internal intentions to the ensemble. There is vulnerability in exposing the torso, which seems to create a more genuine connection to others as compared to just flailing extremities. As conductors, we are often "peripherally guided," so focussing on having "centralized flow" (beginning from the torso and extending outward into the limbs) creates a much better result.
Those of us who are wind players often breathe as we would if we were playing the phrase on our instrument. While useful for initial entrances, it makes more sense for our breathing and gesture to be in harmony with the rise and fall of the phrase. Sometimes, it will not be possible to do the breathing as the phrase suggests without hyperventilating (e.g., inhale for 3 measures, exhale for 1, repeat), but your gestures can create the illusion of same.
As conductors, we should be able to change from the "micro" to the "macro" at the "drop of a hat." We should be asking ourselves the question, "Who needs you right now?" rather than concentrating on whatever we may have choreographed in advance. She used the second movement of the Holst First Suite in E-Flat as an obvious example of needing to switch between micro (repeated eights) and macro (melodic phrase) depending on what area needs the most leadership at that moment.
Neidlinger also touched on one of my pet peeves regarding most conducting pedagogy we have today. Most of our texts are about beat patterns and the like, and that is important as far as it goes, but her interest in Laban's theories has led her to believe that "the essence of expressive movement lies in what is communicated as we move through positions." How we move from one beat to the next is something that we have not studied a lot; Laban's theory seems to be a good fit for exploring this area of conducting pedagogy.
Finally, Neidlinger closed by reminding us that none of this works without score study and musicianship. She thanked our technician Ian, who helped her with the musical examples. I extend the thanks of everyone to the entire technical team which made all the sessions run smoothly.
In these short words, I have not done her presentation justice. Erica Neidlinger has synthesized the lessons of some great teachers, added her own insight, and presented her ideas with great effectiveness. Seek out her sessions whenever you can. She convinced me that if I were to do a further degree in conducting, she is someone with whom I would want to study. I can pay no higher compliment. Thanks, Erica, for a wonderful conclusion to our research sessions for the week.
The Unknown Wind Music of Shostakovich (Research Session 13)
The unknown wind music of Dmitri Shostakovich is a topic that is obviously near and dear to Odd Terje Lysebo’s heart. It is always immediately apparent when a research session is being given by someone who has a genuine thirst for knowledge and is not merely fulfilling a job requirement or doing an assignment. Odd’s love of Shostakovich’s music is infectious and resulted in a riveting discussion and demonstration of a variety of music written between 1929 and 1971 for winds and percussion.
He brought with him the musicians of the Nanset Wind Orchestra who have had a very busy couple of days playing the wonderful opera the night before and the cabaret that evening. I suspect that each member of that ensemble is also more of an expert on Shostakovich than I will ever be.
As Odd remarked at the beginning of his session, not all of this music that he has discovered is good. Some is simply different than what we might expect from Shostakovich. All of it is worth knowing about. Of particular interest was the film music. He not only played suites from these films but also brought with him clips from these films to play as the music was being performed.
Of note were two pieces: Incidental music from The Bedbug written in 1929 and music from the film Volochayerka Days of 1938. The first was a light and humourous chamber work in three movements. The second was a much bigger work, both in instrumentation and in its more epic nature, which depicted a Japanese attack.
Unfortunately, much of this music is still unavailable to us as it is in manuscript but I hope that some of this will soon make it to published editions so that we can all share this music with our audiences. Thank you, Odd, for an inspiring and informative session.
©2007 WASBE