To follow up on Philip’s post yesterday about common sense, I found myself kind of disappointed with the use of the term "common sense" in Liz’s post. She’s postulating a kind of left-brain/right-brain dichotomy and discussing how important left-brain considerations like rehearsal planning and musical analysis are, but that’s not quite the same thing as "common […]
Second performances
Maureen Dowdell of the Vocal Area Network promotes Project Encore, a project of Schola Cantorum on Hudson dedicated to promoting second performances of choral works which have already been premiered: Where gaining a second performance traditionally depended on a composer’s ability to “shop” a score, Project Encore offers a cost-effective, one-stop solution to increasing visibility […]
The composer cult
I’m preparing a concert of all misattributed works for my next program, and it’s been lots of fun. There are so many pieces to choose from! The BWV is full of bogus Bach works, and unscrupulous publishers in the 18th and 19th centuries claimed that all kinds of stuff was by Mozart, Pergolesi, etc., so […]
Choir dedicated to new works
Composers often complain that choirs don’t perform enough new works. Here’s a choir dedicated to only doing new works by Connecticut composers. Composers pay a fee for a fixed amount of rehearsal time with paid singers. They make a recording and a public performance. Maybe it’s not the wave of the future, but it’s […]
Whistle register
Not just for special effects.
Stage fright
Liz’s blog provides a list of tips to minimize choir’s performance anxiety. My favorite is this: If your normal rehearsal warm-ups are about getting people up and going after work, you’ll find that using them just before a performance produces a completely over-hyped choir poised to sing sharp and rush tempi. Meditative warm-ups that slow […]