True energized piano

I just had a wonderful and surreal experience. I came home in between choir and my evening class to work out. When I run toward downtown along the bike path, I can see the downtown skyline. I was listening to a Fresh Air about multiverses, instead of the universe. I really don't mean to turn all SG-1 in this blog, but it was neat to hear this scientist talk about the mathematically supported hypothesis of multiverse. He was illustrating a point by talking about the shape of the earth and comparing that to a shape of a universe (and the implications that would have). Do you ever have those moments where you think you can briefly understand the bigness of something? It happens, it's overwhelming, and you lose the feeling. But at the same time, it's almost as if you got to experience something awesome. In a way it's what I sometimes experience in music- for a moment you experience something bigger than yourself. And far from being scary, it's inspiring. I just wish I could hold onto the feeling longer.

Today we started recording a new composition. This is unlike anything I have done. At Luther, we made recordings of demo CDs for new music. This is a composition by a San Francisco Bay area composer. It's a new age-y type of music encompassing the philosophy of the life and death of things in nature... things that come into harmony with each other and then fight against each other. Mistakes were made and instead of correcting them, his response was, "Well, it sounded cool. So if it sounds cool with the other tracks, we'll use it." It certainly is a creative process. I don't think I could be a composer. I'm glad there are people suited to this- lest we would not have new music.

My friend Austen posted on a previous blog and posed the question "How does a conductor achieve an energized piano dynamic?" Great question! I have been thinking a lot about this too. As much as I would like to just will an energized piano dynamic into being, it will not happen. First, I have to set the demand by asking for it but keeping the energy up. I do this by asking for forward/surging energy without a crescendo. I also play around with how I show this in my gesture. Some gestures work better than others. The one I really like to tap into is a sort of t'ai chi gesture. Now, I know nothing about t'ai chi. I don't even think I know exactly what it is. If you asked me, I would say a lot of "um"s and maybe say something about movement and breath. We had a guest conductor a month or so ago. He was a CSU alum and went to undergrad with my teacher. He demanded our choir sing a true piano. It took multiple tries, great support, and intense focus, but we got there. So I have at times used some of the things I used from him, including a contained, low, centered, "rounded" gesture. Sometimes my ladies can't get to it. Sometimes I am not demanding enough. There are moments when they do really well but not quite a true energized piano. And sometimes I let it slide. Sometimes not. I should be more consistent.

The answer is: I don't know always to get a true energized piano. But I'm working on how to get there. I think that is one of the differences between choirs that sound good and choirs that affect us on levels we can't describe.