Saturday. You’re beat. So is this astounding drummer.
Stick Time: Conducting Study 2
Today we look at the conducting line. Notice in this brief example the graceful gestures used by the conductor, and how his fluid movements emulate the music and ultimately encourage the sound that is produced by the choir. Also note that the conductor uses a lateral motion to reinforce the phrase. In the space of […]
CJ Replay: Choral Conducting Auditions
Imagine for a moment a pianist who went in to audition for a jury and faced the following problems: 1) The piano, which he had had no opportunity to tryout previously, was out of tune, and he was expected to tune it in front of the jury. Sections of it needed voicing, and some notes […]
Stick Time: Flavor of the 70s
Periods have their own flavor, don’t they? A work of the Baroque “feels” different than one from the Rennaisance. Given the explosion of compositional techniques over the past 150 years, even smaller increments of time seem to have become little “mini-periods.” Here is an example of composition from the mid-1970s.
Choral Caffeine: Audition Success
“Those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail.” It’s broken my heart to observe that axiom play out in far too many vocal auditions. How many talented, well-intentioned high school singers have missed an opportunity to display their skills in the best possible light simply because no one told them what to expect and […]
CJ Replay: Orchestra for “Messiah”
“The most crucial and time-consuming element of a successful performance comes before the first rehearsal: learning the score. Beginning with a study of the text one would discover the general overall structure of the oratorio: from the general move to the specific; from the specific the conductor may then be ready to mark his […]