Must read books!

  • Advice for Young Conductors - Weingartner
  • Anatomy of the Orchestra - Del Mar
  • Brigade de Cuisine - John McPhee
  • Heat - Bill Buford
  • Poetics of Music - Stravinsky
  • Tao Te Ching - Lao Tse
  • The Composer's Advocate - Leinsdorf
  • The Modern Conductor, 7th Edition - Green/Gibson
  • The Score, The Orchestra and The Conductor - Gustav Meier
  • Zen in the Art of Archery - Herrigel

Friday, October 1, 2010

Bar 13 - Details we may not teach you enough in school; a baker's dozen

1)   Always greet and engage with the orchestra manager
2)   Always release orchestra 2 minutes early (unless you are trying to prove a point)
3)   Always call a rehearsal break before the orchestra manager makes you
4)   Always allow time to put on/remove mutes, or for winds to change instruments
5)   Always give the strings a chance to discuss and write in bowings if they need to; don't be impatient.
6)   Don't be afraid to insist, gently, positively and with encouragement, on the sound that you think is proper.
7)   Make nice with the orchestra librarian.
8)   Make nice with the stage crew.
9)   Clean up the podium and your music stand after rehearsal.
10)  Don't make a move to start until concertmaster is READY.
11)  You ignore the bass section at your peril (OK, I do teach this at CCM)
12)  Unless it was the worst rehearsal in the history of Western classical music, always thank the orchestra at the end for their good work.
13)  Be grateful you are making music.  SHARE JOY!

This list is by no means exclusive or exhaustive, but it's a start!  Back to work!

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