Dear Readers,
Waiting for my ride to the airport in Beijing. Escaping just in time; a new 4-day red alert was posted, as the air turns foul yet again. Below please find a post begun while we were preparing Elgar earlier this fall. I like the ideas, and it never hurts to be reminded every now and then of what may seem obvious, but at times gets lost in the process. For your edification:
It was a solid, productive sectional, and now I was girding my loins for a crucial rehearsal in a few minutes. While working with the strings and wind/brass/perc separately, I was reminded of several basics:
1) We (the conductor) don't rehearse for ourselves. We rehearse for the orchestra, to help them play as well as they can. The strings needed the chance yesterday to hear the Elgar 1 without all the extra notes and noise, to see where they double each other (2nd's and violas, violas and cellos, 1st's and violas, etc) and to hear how their harmonies line up with each other. Also, there are just some nasty licks, and it is better to take care of that stuff with W/B/P waiting a few feet away.
2) PANIC is never a good motivation or practice/rehearsal method. Practice reduces panic. As I like to say, practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make BETTER. And that is a fundamental truth of rehearsal; it should sound better at the end than it did at the start.
3) Controversial though it may sound to some readers, it is NOT, in my view, the conductor's job to fix intonation in winds and brass. The conductor may choose to do so, at his/her own risk, but in my view, in a professional setting, the last thing orchestral wind players want to hear from the podium is that they are out of tune. Either they already know it, and would fix it with a gentle (off-the-podium) reminder, or they don't, in which case, as we say here, "Get a new orchestra." Seriously, one of our mantras is "A great orchestra takes care of its own business." This is different from working with a high school band, or an ensemble of non-majors, where often it is the conductor's job either to fix pitch, to teach about how to fix pitch, or both. The Philharmonia wind/brass sections know that intonation is above all about LISTENING and AWARENESS. All I needed to do was to remind the musicians (perhaps more forcefully than I would have liked) of the protocols for intonation. They responded immediately, and well.
4) ORCHESTRA MEMBERS: STOP THE FOOT-TAPPING. Please. Now. For the sake of your insoles, if for nothing else. Those who tap their feet while playing aren't tapping in tempo, either in yours nor frankly even in theirs. Where it came from, I don't know, but I'm putting it up there with my crusade to "CURE PODIUM DEAFNESS."
5) CONDUCTORS: Less beating, more listening. I've said this 1000 times over - the bigger your gesture, the less you will listen. And active listening trumps active beating every time.
There you have it, friends. Next post will be stateside. Best wishes to all for the holidays! - MG
Waiting for my ride to the airport in Beijing. Escaping just in time; a new 4-day red alert was posted, as the air turns foul yet again. Below please find a post begun while we were preparing Elgar earlier this fall. I like the ideas, and it never hurts to be reminded every now and then of what may seem obvious, but at times gets lost in the process. For your edification:
It was a solid, productive sectional, and now I was girding my loins for a crucial rehearsal in a few minutes. While working with the strings and wind/brass/perc separately, I was reminded of several basics:
1) We (the conductor) don't rehearse for ourselves. We rehearse for the orchestra, to help them play as well as they can. The strings needed the chance yesterday to hear the Elgar 1 without all the extra notes and noise, to see where they double each other (2nd's and violas, violas and cellos, 1st's and violas, etc) and to hear how their harmonies line up with each other. Also, there are just some nasty licks, and it is better to take care of that stuff with W/B/P waiting a few feet away.
2) PANIC is never a good motivation or practice/rehearsal method. Practice reduces panic. As I like to say, practice doesn't make perfect, but it does make BETTER. And that is a fundamental truth of rehearsal; it should sound better at the end than it did at the start.
3) Controversial though it may sound to some readers, it is NOT, in my view, the conductor's job to fix intonation in winds and brass. The conductor may choose to do so, at his/her own risk, but in my view, in a professional setting, the last thing orchestral wind players want to hear from the podium is that they are out of tune. Either they already know it, and would fix it with a gentle (off-the-podium) reminder, or they don't, in which case, as we say here, "Get a new orchestra." Seriously, one of our mantras is "A great orchestra takes care of its own business." This is different from working with a high school band, or an ensemble of non-majors, where often it is the conductor's job either to fix pitch, to teach about how to fix pitch, or both. The Philharmonia wind/brass sections know that intonation is above all about LISTENING and AWARENESS. All I needed to do was to remind the musicians (perhaps more forcefully than I would have liked) of the protocols for intonation. They responded immediately, and well.
4) ORCHESTRA MEMBERS: STOP THE FOOT-TAPPING. Please. Now. For the sake of your insoles, if for nothing else. Those who tap their feet while playing aren't tapping in tempo, either in yours nor frankly even in theirs. Where it came from, I don't know, but I'm putting it up there with my crusade to "CURE PODIUM DEAFNESS."
5) CONDUCTORS: Less beating, more listening. I've said this 1000 times over - the bigger your gesture, the less you will listen. And active listening trumps active beating every time.
There you have it, friends. Next post will be stateside. Best wishes to all for the holidays! - MG
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