Isaac and Senfl

Yes, I am writing a post.  No, I haven't quit school and suddenly have a lot of time.

But I am finishing up work on a presentation for Tuesday.  Have I mentioned that my DMA program is at least 3 times the work of my masters?  Being so busy is tough... especially when I have no control over how busy I am.  I feel as if I am staying a half step ahead of all my work, which is better than a half step behind.

With that being said, if you have any questions about Isaac and Senfl, I'm going to give what I hope to be is an A-presentation on Tuesday, so please ask.

Let me talk about something a bit more interesting.  Conducting chant.

I have conducted twice in my conducting class.  Both times were flops.  I mean sure, there was some direction in my line and I obviously knew the music and knew what I wanted... but my gesture was all choppy.  I really tried hard to make it better in between conducting experiences.

Conducting chant involves doing conducting that is a bit like dipping your hand in a pot of water and moving it gracefully through.  I have never been good at that.  So mine was a bit more like chopping vegetables.  But I really did try.

I really can "stir the water" with my gesture if I work hard.  I know the direction I need to head.  But now we start polyphony and I have no idea what's going to happen.  I do know that tomorrow I am going to mark a bunch of 2 and 3 groupings.  And now that my presentation is under control, I can stay on top of my next presentation AND dedicate more time to conducting.

Professional Disappointment

So today I dealt with professional disappointment.  This is not the first time and I know it will not be the last.  This is a part of our lives, as musicians and as humans.  But that does not mean it is not a bummer.

This summer I revised my master thesis quite a bit so it could be printed.  I received an e-mail today from the issue editor; my article will not fit in the focus issue (which was moved from December to February).  She asked if she could send my article to another person who edits smaller columns.  She mentioned my article her that editor already and the person was very interested.

Still... a bummer.

I do not feel like a "failure" myself.  My article is well written and full of good information.  But I am really disappointed.  I really tried not to get too excited when this came up as a possibility.  Getting published as a feature article has always been on my "bucket" list.  And it will stay there (and yes- I can already hear a voice in my head saying, "Just for now.  It will stay there for now.  But you have so much time and maybe you can get a feature article in the future."  But that voice is annoying me right now.  Seriously... I can never stop my own positivity.  Sometimes it drives me crazy).

I conducted today in class.  It was great to finally conduct in front of an extremely responsive group!  I conducted a chant.  Simple but... not.  I will watch the video this weekend and try to learn something from it.  I did some very odd things, but made some improvements.  I also am toying around with some new ideas as far as how I would conduct the chant (this one or another one) differently.  I am thinking about things such as how I would use the conducting plane or how I can even out some of my tacti so as not to give something weight that sounds like it could have weight but should not.

Tonight, in church choir rehearsal, I worked on tone color with my singers.  It was great!  I had them sing with a variety of "colors."  Nasal, back in the throat, full and full of vibrato, non vibrato and rich, non vibrato and thin, varying vowels, etc.  I reminded them that every time they sing, they choose their color.  I help guide them, but they have to be making the constant choice.  We experimented with how to achieve colors that would be in tune and "blend" without compromising their individual sound.  Not a surprise, tall vowels with a healthy, supported sound lends itself to a rich, warm color of the entire choir.  I had the soprano section demonstrate singing in different colors (at the same time, so it sounded like a bunch of individual voices that did not sing quite in tune) versus singing with support and listening to their "sisters."  It was successful.

Time to Breathe!

For the first time in 2 weeks, I finally feel like I am catching up.  Now, this does not mean I think I am AHEAD on anything.  I just feel as if I'm not running to catch up.  I have a presentation tomorrow on performing practices.  I am addressing various vocal considerations.  I have spent a lot of time the past few weeks reading various sources.  I spent hours and hours this past weekend typing up hand outs and synthesizing my own notes.  I need to run through it tonight (and maybe tomorrow morning).  But the information is there.

Already I begin on my next presentation.  Actually, two presentations.

At any rate, let me briefly comment on chant.

There is this thing about chant.  The Monks of Solemnes basically just beat every two beats.  I mean, they grouped it into twos and threes, but unless it was a group neum, they seemed to group every two microbeats, regardless of text stress.  I don't like that.  But, to each their own.  Even the Monks of Solemn.

I asked myself a question last Thursday and only just now was able to answer it.  The question was: Does "Hélas mon dueil" by Dufay sound liked "Solo e pensoso" by Marenzio?  I heard the Dufay piece briefly in a class.  And I thought about that.  So I wrote myself an e-mail asking myself that question.  And now I am answering it.  No.  Not they do not sound similar.  Often I hear these things and often things are similar, so I am a little disappointed they do not sound alike.  I LOVE the Marenzio piece.

I'm starting to think about recital pieces for my March DMA recital.  More mulling on that later.  I have a few ideas (including a Holst set), but I'm still open to ideas.  So many great pieces out there!