I have submitted my recital list. Except I am missing one piece that is still coming in the mail.
Since it has not been approved, I am hesitant to share what I have chosen. My professor could say "pick other pieces" for a variety of reasons.
However, there is one piece I KNOW I will be conducting, as I have already received "approval" verbally. The piece was bought last year by our school because my director had thought about performing it, so the school does not need to purchase the music (which is great, because it's not a cheap piece of music). And I am so excited.
This piece? Der Feuerreiter by Hugo Wolf. I have already checked out a book to help me understand this piece of music. I will be doing more research on my recital music over January. I should receive music in the mail in the next few days.
I am very excited about this. I recommend listening to it.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Three Days of Crazy
It has been a whirlwind of a the past three days. I want to sum this up here, because it has had such great impact on my professional life.
My article is officially published, which is great. However, someone wrote a letter to the editor about my article and they were not pleased. The journal has a policy that publishes all letters to the editor. To make a long story short, the letter to the editor was a bit vitriolic, seeming to be more upset with the editors than my article, but still disagreeing with some things I said. However, for those of you that read my article, have no fear... there were two misspellings in my article, but the rest of the things this person pointed out I would take issue with. I can back up what I wrote with research and I believe it to be pretty sound. Needless to say, it caused me a little stress for a couple of days. The journal is not going to print this letter to the editor, as the writer has said they would prefer it not to be published.
Based on this experience, I had a great conversation with one of my professors today. She brought many things to my attention worth considering, but I will only mention two on here: 1) a person who has so much experience in the field should not be nitpicking a graduate students work, especially given the fact it was a relatively "small" article. Yes, a big article to me, but small compared to anybody who is in the musicology field. 2) The opening of line of the letter to the editor criticizes the journal by saying, "Did no one who knows anything about Brahms or his choral music actually read/edit it?" My professor wisely said to me, "This opening line says a lot about the real issue that this had." This person who wrote the letter is a scholar in the field of the article I wrote... yet, this person was not asked to edit or write an article for this issue of the publication. My professor pointed out this could have been a response to that, rather than the article.
My editor, in her last e-mail to me said (paraphrased), "It is a fine and well written article, and I would not give it another thought."
I am so glad that is over. I feel less stressed with out this hanging over my head. But what an experience!
The other thing that has made the past few days a whirlwind is: I conducted my first high school festival. It was last minute, as I was a fill-in conductor for someone else. But, it was amazing! It was completely draining. But it was wonderful. The high schoolers did good things and many of them had fun. The choir teachers thanked me and believed that I was teaching their students something. Not to mention, I can put this on my CV. I was very pleased and so excited to have this experience.
I am a bit overwhelmed about the experiences I have had. I am so fortunate. I have happened to be in the right place at the right time, or I know the right person. Because of this, I get to share in the joy of music with others. I hopefully affect their life in a positive way through music (or through scholarship about music). Wow.
My article is officially published, which is great. However, someone wrote a letter to the editor about my article and they were not pleased. The journal has a policy that publishes all letters to the editor. To make a long story short, the letter to the editor was a bit vitriolic, seeming to be more upset with the editors than my article, but still disagreeing with some things I said. However, for those of you that read my article, have no fear... there were two misspellings in my article, but the rest of the things this person pointed out I would take issue with. I can back up what I wrote with research and I believe it to be pretty sound. Needless to say, it caused me a little stress for a couple of days. The journal is not going to print this letter to the editor, as the writer has said they would prefer it not to be published.
Based on this experience, I had a great conversation with one of my professors today. She brought many things to my attention worth considering, but I will only mention two on here: 1) a person who has so much experience in the field should not be nitpicking a graduate students work, especially given the fact it was a relatively "small" article. Yes, a big article to me, but small compared to anybody who is in the musicology field. 2) The opening of line of the letter to the editor criticizes the journal by saying, "Did no one who knows anything about Brahms or his choral music actually read/edit it?" My professor wisely said to me, "This opening line says a lot about the real issue that this had." This person who wrote the letter is a scholar in the field of the article I wrote... yet, this person was not asked to edit or write an article for this issue of the publication. My professor pointed out this could have been a response to that, rather than the article.
My editor, in her last e-mail to me said (paraphrased), "It is a fine and well written article, and I would not give it another thought."
I am so glad that is over. I feel less stressed with out this hanging over my head. But what an experience!
The other thing that has made the past few days a whirlwind is: I conducted my first high school festival. It was last minute, as I was a fill-in conductor for someone else. But, it was amazing! It was completely draining. But it was wonderful. The high schoolers did good things and many of them had fun. The choir teachers thanked me and believed that I was teaching their students something. Not to mention, I can put this on my CV. I was very pleased and so excited to have this experience.
I am a bit overwhelmed about the experiences I have had. I am so fortunate. I have happened to be in the right place at the right time, or I know the right person. Because of this, I get to share in the joy of music with others. I hopefully affect their life in a positive way through music (or through scholarship about music). Wow.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
First Festival
Great news! I was asked to step in and conduct a high school festival. For tomorrow. Yikes! But the good news is that the music is simple, singable, and many choirs will catch on quickly. The music is fun, which means the day is going to be full of fun.
So, the story: I received a Facebook message from a former mentor who is now conducting at my alma mater. She taught there on a three year stint when I was there and I was her assistant conductor my senior year. I also met up with her when I lived in Arizona. Needless to say, our paths cross often enough, usually for professional reasons. I have always admired her both as a musician and as a person. At any rate, she was supposed to lead a festival tomorrow, but is returning from a festival in Texas and her flight was delayed due to inclement weather. She recommended me to the organizer of the festival as a person who might be able to jump in and do the festival. So I gave him a call, and he indeed was scrambling to find someone. So, I rearranged some plans for tomorrow and now I am heading north an hour to lead a high school festival for a day.
This will be my first festival, although I have adjudicated before. I guess this is really happening- I have published an article, I will lead a festival. And you know how I got here? Sheer luck. I happen to be in the right place at the right time or maybe I know a person who knows I'm around. But no matter, I will capitalize on these opportunities.
On a side note: I e-mailed my professor about my absence tomorrow afternoon from choir. We are within 10 rehearsals of a concert, so normally absences are unexcused no matter what. However, it is for a professional reason. I am a little nervous about his response and I feel pretty bad that I am missing (as a TA). But how could I NOT take this opportunity? Rehearsing a festival from noon to 5:30 and then perform in a 7:00 PM concert? Not only is a great thing to put on my CV, but it sounds like fun. So yes, a little nervous about his response, but I just couldn't imagine NOT taking this opportunity.
And my colleagues have stepped up to help cover a few things for me tomorrow. And my friend Cara helped me piece together a bio for the program tomorrow. And John cooked dinner and then cleaned up, even though it was my job, so I could prepare for tomorrow. I am really pretty lucky to have such support.
So, the story: I received a Facebook message from a former mentor who is now conducting at my alma mater. She taught there on a three year stint when I was there and I was her assistant conductor my senior year. I also met up with her when I lived in Arizona. Needless to say, our paths cross often enough, usually for professional reasons. I have always admired her both as a musician and as a person. At any rate, she was supposed to lead a festival tomorrow, but is returning from a festival in Texas and her flight was delayed due to inclement weather. She recommended me to the organizer of the festival as a person who might be able to jump in and do the festival. So I gave him a call, and he indeed was scrambling to find someone. So, I rearranged some plans for tomorrow and now I am heading north an hour to lead a high school festival for a day.
This will be my first festival, although I have adjudicated before. I guess this is really happening- I have published an article, I will lead a festival. And you know how I got here? Sheer luck. I happen to be in the right place at the right time or maybe I know a person who knows I'm around. But no matter, I will capitalize on these opportunities.
On a side note: I e-mailed my professor about my absence tomorrow afternoon from choir. We are within 10 rehearsals of a concert, so normally absences are unexcused no matter what. However, it is for a professional reason. I am a little nervous about his response and I feel pretty bad that I am missing (as a TA). But how could I NOT take this opportunity? Rehearsing a festival from noon to 5:30 and then perform in a 7:00 PM concert? Not only is a great thing to put on my CV, but it sounds like fun. So yes, a little nervous about his response, but I just couldn't imagine NOT taking this opportunity.
And my colleagues have stepped up to help cover a few things for me tomorrow. And my friend Cara helped me piece together a bio for the program tomorrow. And John cooked dinner and then cleaned up, even though it was my job, so I could prepare for tomorrow. I am really pretty lucky to have such support.
Friday, November 15, 2013
Recital Music is Percolating
I made quite a bit of progress on my recital list tonight. I keep having to remind myself that these pieces are for a small chamber group, and no, I can't do anything from Tchaikovsky's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. But that is now on my "I will conduct this someday" list.
I'm still missing something. I know I am. Or maybe I made so many decisions tonight that I just feel I am missing something. Or rather, the individual pieces are great, but I want to make sure it fits together in an exciting and challenging way for the singers and a quality and entertaining way for the audience.
Want to know what those pieces are? Well, I am not ready to share even my ideas yet! But I can say this: I am programming for a smaller choir. We have an excellent accompanist. I hope to have them sing in Russian. I have two pieces that could potentially be "big" closers, so I am not sure how the energy of that would work. I have pieces in which the choir can work on producing different colors. I am excited to have a choir that will understand that concept and be able to respond to it- and I will be able to push them. Also, one of the pieces I have chosen is a piece I have heard before as a pop remix in Zumba. I currently have six languages programmed. I need 30-40 minutes worth of music. I have some REALLY tough pieces planned, and the toughest ones I don't plan on having to cut from my list.
In other news, today I submitted credit transfer paperwork for two classes from my masters- a theory and a history. It would be so extremely helpful if those credits from my masters could count toward a requirement or two of my DMA.
I'm still missing something. I know I am. Or maybe I made so many decisions tonight that I just feel I am missing something. Or rather, the individual pieces are great, but I want to make sure it fits together in an exciting and challenging way for the singers and a quality and entertaining way for the audience.
Want to know what those pieces are? Well, I am not ready to share even my ideas yet! But I can say this: I am programming for a smaller choir. We have an excellent accompanist. I hope to have them sing in Russian. I have two pieces that could potentially be "big" closers, so I am not sure how the energy of that would work. I have pieces in which the choir can work on producing different colors. I am excited to have a choir that will understand that concept and be able to respond to it- and I will be able to push them. Also, one of the pieces I have chosen is a piece I have heard before as a pop remix in Zumba. I currently have six languages programmed. I need 30-40 minutes worth of music. I have some REALLY tough pieces planned, and the toughest ones I don't plan on having to cut from my list.
In other news, today I submitted credit transfer paperwork for two classes from my masters- a theory and a history. It would be so extremely helpful if those credits from my masters could count toward a requirement or two of my DMA.
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Hassler's Four Voice Cantate Domino
Today's blog post brought to you by the piece "Cantate Domino" by Hans Leo Hassler.
I conduct this tomorrow morning in conducting class. I am the last one to conduct this piece, as I am second to the end in this round. We conduct in a pre-established order and the pieces in each round vary. So I am conducting the same things that two other classmates conducted. Since I am the last one to go, I better have some good musical ideas and I better be ready to clean up any thing that sounds muddy yet.
First, some background. Based on Psalm 96:1-3, Hassler would often set multiple versions of the same text. "Cantate Domino" he set for four voices, five voices, eight voices, and twelve voices. I may have missed a voicing in there. I am conducting the four voice edition. I like the edition we are using- it's Arista Edition. They are very clean.
The music is not so "clean" anymore, as it has all my markings on it. Groupings, text stress, breaths, glottals, dynamics, articulations, a few diction reminders, translation, etc. This piece is fairly straight forward. There will not be much for the singers to think about tomorrow except just making music. There are no dynamic markings in the score from the edition. I put in a few, put they are fairly conservative dynamics.
So I am struggling with two things on this piece.
One: Tempo. It's easy to start too quickly. Or start a good tempo and speed up. Or change tempo when I go through the triple/duple modulations. I do not want to snowball to the end and I certainly do not want to be taking the tempo too quickly during the last section, or there is no way the choir will put on a phrase-ending "s" together. And breaths will sound like gasps before moving forward. On the other hand, if I start too slowly, the piece drags. It loses livelihood. Needless to say, I have been thinking a lot about the tempo.
Two: Dynamics. I know it's a Renaissance piece. But I really do not think I want the group to sing it mezzo-mezzo. As mentioned earlier, I have fairly conservative dynamic markings written in, but I actually think those markings are less conservative when I hear it in my head. So I am pretty sure I will ask them to give me more (and less) tomorrow morning than what the page is showing.
So, I am exhausted. But before I sign off, I think that Hassler is very subtly clever in his writing. The only time the word "populis" is sung (which means "people") is the only time Hassler borrows the Bb from a different hexachord. It's as if the people are in a different realm (literally, a different hexachord realm) from the rest of God's praise.
I conduct this tomorrow morning in conducting class. I am the last one to conduct this piece, as I am second to the end in this round. We conduct in a pre-established order and the pieces in each round vary. So I am conducting the same things that two other classmates conducted. Since I am the last one to go, I better have some good musical ideas and I better be ready to clean up any thing that sounds muddy yet.
First, some background. Based on Psalm 96:1-3, Hassler would often set multiple versions of the same text. "Cantate Domino" he set for four voices, five voices, eight voices, and twelve voices. I may have missed a voicing in there. I am conducting the four voice edition. I like the edition we are using- it's Arista Edition. They are very clean.
The music is not so "clean" anymore, as it has all my markings on it. Groupings, text stress, breaths, glottals, dynamics, articulations, a few diction reminders, translation, etc. This piece is fairly straight forward. There will not be much for the singers to think about tomorrow except just making music. There are no dynamic markings in the score from the edition. I put in a few, put they are fairly conservative dynamics.
So I am struggling with two things on this piece.
One: Tempo. It's easy to start too quickly. Or start a good tempo and speed up. Or change tempo when I go through the triple/duple modulations. I do not want to snowball to the end and I certainly do not want to be taking the tempo too quickly during the last section, or there is no way the choir will put on a phrase-ending "s" together. And breaths will sound like gasps before moving forward. On the other hand, if I start too slowly, the piece drags. It loses livelihood. Needless to say, I have been thinking a lot about the tempo.
Two: Dynamics. I know it's a Renaissance piece. But I really do not think I want the group to sing it mezzo-mezzo. As mentioned earlier, I have fairly conservative dynamic markings written in, but I actually think those markings are less conservative when I hear it in my head. So I am pretty sure I will ask them to give me more (and less) tomorrow morning than what the page is showing.
So, I am exhausted. But before I sign off, I think that Hassler is very subtly clever in his writing. The only time the word "populis" is sung (which means "people") is the only time Hassler borrows the Bb from a different hexachord. It's as if the people are in a different realm (literally, a different hexachord realm) from the rest of God's praise.
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