The composer painstakingly organizes notes by pitch and duration horizontally to form melody; pitches are aligned vertically to define harmony and counterpoint, which in turn puts melody in context, giving it meaning. Dramatic ebb and flow are generated through rhythmic activity and pulse. Rests in the musical texture create drama and bring interior lines into relief. The language of our musical notation is sophisticated and rich, incorporating 4 different written languages (apart from musical symbols themselves), 12 different pitches over 6 octaves, a complement of meters and note lengths, spoken in sound by an organism of as many as thirty different instruments capable of a host of distinct sounds. The depth of what can be said through this notation is limitless.
We study the score for days, weeks, months, even years trying to learn the score's logic, grasp its structure and intuit its poetry. We so earnestly want to find a way to understand what the composer is saying; some of take the time to read the composer’s letters, discover other works by the composer, explore the times during which the composer lived.
Then we face the orchestra, meaning to share what we have learned to our orchestra so that it can play what we believe the composer wanted to say. And what tools do we use to express the composer’s artistic intent?
One is down.
A four pattern goes down, left, right and up.
Three looks like a triangle.
Make bigger gestures for more sound.
Point to the player in time for them to come in.
Make a big round gesture to cut off the ensemble.
We work so hard to understand this musical language, yet our own language – the language of gesture we employ to express the score physically – is so limited. How can we ever bridge the gap between the poetry of composition and the prosaic act of leading an orchestra to play together?
These and so many other thoughts challenged me during last weekend’s conducting workshop at CCM, devoted to Schumann 3, 4, the Cello Concerto and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony.
It was such a pleasure to work with interesting, interested young conductors! Thirteen maestros-to-be came to CCM to learn and share something about the craft from my teacher, Gustav Meier, my colleague, Ulrich Nicolai, and with me. The level was quite good, and those who have been with us in the past demonstrated remarkable growth.
The same issues nonetheless arose from time to time, too much beating and unnecessary rebounding, resulting in or stemming from vague musical ideas and an inability to shape sound and time. Those with “easy hands” – to whom beating “clearly” either came naturally or was practiced into security - didn’t use their beats to shape phrase, show dynamics or define sound specific to and appropriate for Schumann and Schubert. Some simply didn’t trust the orchestra to maintain pulse and continued to beat in spite of the ensemble. Often the orchestra seemed to play on its own, though curiously, it did sound different with each conductor. Clearly, body language was being read by the orchestra, but there was very little traveling in much of the conducting, very little sense of who needed what information when.
And yet. There was one conductor who dared during the brief bridge leading into the development of the 1st movement of the Schubert. The descending scale in the low strings was allowed to unfold virtually without gesture but with the clearest musical intent; no beating, only the very slightest indication of when pitch changed. The reentry of the upper strings was rendered with merely a glance. The sound left us speechless.
Another conductor expressed Schumann through a sheer joy in conducting I've rarely seen, working from memory, confidently sharing shape and sound with the orchestra. Yet another demonstrated his maturity with a light touch, his face communicating his love for this music so powerfully that the orchestra barely needed a gesture. Careers are made of such moments. And that is the next beginning.
Are we going to change what conducting looks like?
Are we going to reestablish the primacy of gesture and pulse over beat?
Are we going to expand our physical vocabulary to encompass the composer’s will?
In the beginning, there was the score.
How will you now begin to conduct?
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