Good...better...best

Today’s rehearsal was good.
Adequate.
There were glimmers of possibilities. But remember~ You need to find your satisfaction in the music and not in your social interactions. If you do so, you will find that the rehearsal becomes (ultimately, with practice) THE place to have a blast!

Good.
Adequate.
But not great.
You are capable of much more.

It is my job to push you there. To pull you there. To allow you to step on my back to reach it. To get a “leg up”. But, I cannot get you all the way there. That is your job. All 32 of you.

Let me dispense with CREATIVE HABIT for one blog entry and chat with you about one of my learning experiences.

I was getting my Masters in Music and was taking an intensive (and I do mean INTENSIVE) one-on-one advanced conducting class with Dr. Martha Wurtz, one of the chamber ensemble directors at Wright State University. I was conducting one of Samuel Barber’s REINCARNATIONS titled “The Coolin’” (vocal/choral majors, if you don’t know this piece, look here http://uabchoirs.blogspot.com/2006/12/looking-ahead-coolin.html
for a listening example of it). The first part of the lyric is “Come with me, under my coat, and we will drink our fill of the milk of the white goat or wine if it be thy will. And we will talk until talk is a trouble too, out on the side of the hill(and so on).

Anyway, this piece looked easy…at least I thought so when I gave the preparatory beat. HA!!! Do you know that for the next hour, she never let me get past the first line? 20 minutes alone on the first measure? Was her goal to torture me? No, it was to think deeply about the wedding of music and lyrics. To reflect it (once understood…she told me I had OBVIOUSLY never REALLY been in love or else I wouldn’t conduct it like that!) in my conducting gestures. I sweated bullets that day. But I left understanding the piece. And feeling like I had “miles to go…”

Martha was a perfectionist. She demanded excellence. She demanded respect of the music. She demanded full attention. It was exhausting being her student. But, I count her one of the most important influences on my life. She was the one who introduced me to Jerry Bruner. She is among a small handful who nurtured my appreciation for good literature. She made me ask good questions. She made me think. The regalia I wear in every graduation ceremony was hers. She gave it to me when she knew that her moments on this earth were slipping away.

To this day, I cherish her demands.

I can only hope I live up to her example.

Dr. O

"Cause we're warm-in up"

On Page 16, Tharp talks about the beginning of a dance class and how it is beautiful to watch. How it always begins with the ritual of warm-up…sound familiar? But, how many of you realize just how important (physically, mentally, emotionally) the choral warm-up really is?

Well, as they say in the south, “I’m fixin’ to tell ‘ya”! I’ve done one of MY rituals (making the obligatory cup of herb tea after dinner) and so I thought I’d sip and reflect on the warm-up. Let me also be VERY honest here…it is my VERY least favorite rehearsal ritual. Like Tharp’s two hour workout in the gym. Obviously important (like scales are to the pianist), but tending toward the tedious…if we LET it.

Let me share some important things to remember (thanks to Sally K. Albrecht) about the warmup. “The choral warm-up will establish the mood for the rehearsal, as well as serve functionally to prepare the singers and their voices for singing”. She goes on to say that this is the time when singers realize something important is going to happen and to see that the conductor is “prepared, ready, and enthusiastic” for what is about to take place. Vocal/choral majors, take note of all of this. The tone for the rehearsal is set at the top (the conductor) and it is set at the outset (beginning) of the rehearsal. I can’t stress enough the importance of the conductor as leader (more on this later).

Here are Dr. Albrecht’s goals for the choral warm-up. First, they should “establish, cultivate, educate, and affirm the necessity for the singers to respond to the conductor’s gestures”. Second, they are to physically warm up the body and vocal instrument. And lastly, they reinforce ensemble techniques (like listening, responding as a unit). Good to remember next time you are tempted to “ZONE OUT” during warm-ups. Challenge yourself to “TUNE IN” next time. By the way, these helpful hints are taken from THE CHORAL WARM-UP COLLECTION (all vocal/choral majors will be required to purchase this book in Choral Techniques).

Now, a compliment and a suggestion. Overall, today’s rehearsal went well and we accomplished a lot. However, we didn’t accomplish everything on my list. This wasn’t because the list was too long; it was because we lost time with, as they say, idle chatter. Having to stop to remind you that I’m the one you should be listening to is like letting the air out of an inflated balloon. It isn’t any fun and it can ruin the party. Dr. O

No Magic Choral Wand

On page 9 in Chapter One of THE CREATIVE HABIT, Tharp reminds us that “it takes skill to bring something you’ve imagined into the world” and then goes on to say that “it is developed through exercise, through repetition, through a blend of learning and reflection that’s both painstaking and rewarding. And it takes time”. Are you feeling that now as you stare at your folder FULL of unlearned music? I know I do (particularly as the performance date draws closer). Don’t you wish you could just wave your magic little choral wand and POOF! “Mother of God, Here I Stand” is completed and so breathtakingly beautiful that you are convinced that even John Tavener would be moved to tears? Or the Hebrew of “Yedid Nefesh” is mastered. Or we have achieved a perfectly blended, exquisite choral sound.

But, there is no choral magic wand. And I’m kind of glad there isn’t. Because much of our growth, our maturity as musicians, our development as human beings with refined aesthetic senses happens within the confines of the hard work of a rehearsal. Much as I’m happy with a spotless house, I get a certain (warped?) satisfaction out of the sore muscles and tiredness that comes from having cleaned to get it to that point. I enjoy it more than if someone else (the magic cleaning fairy?) had come in and done if for me. I think that is what Tharp is trying to get at here. While a focused, energetic rehearsal is hard work, it is ultimately the most rewarding thing you do as a choral musician. Dr. O

The Preparatory Beat

So, were you listening during rehearsal on Friday? Really listening? If you were, you will not be surprised when I tell you that we will have a new seating arrangement on Monday. Much of what a conductor does is search for that magical arrangement…the one that allows all parts (SATB) to hear each other, become one with each other, reach that “sweet spot of harmonic bliss” (HA!). Where we are now sitting leaves us too isolated from one another and allows us to become complacent, only hearing those that are “like us”. So, expect change on Monday.

Back to Tharp and THE CREATIVE HABIT. On page 10, she says, “everything is raw material. Everything is relevant. Everything is usable. Everything feeds into my creativity. But without proper preparation, I cannot see it, retain it, and use it.” I’ve always believed that “everything relates to everything”. Everything I experience eventually contributes to my music making in some way. All experiences, all feelings, all successes, all failures. So, on your way to rehearsal on Monday, open up your senses a bit. Start your mental rehearsal prep as soon as you get out of bed in the morning. Listen. Watch. Think. Notice all this preparation is done without words. We will all be richer if we cultivate our inner lives a bit more…let’s all start Monday morning! See if this preparation makes rehearsal a more rewarding experience Dr. O

Welcome to the "O"-zone

In the first few pages of The Creative Habit, Tharp talks about that empty dance studio and what it symbolizes for her. She says that many artists find the “major pause” before the creative process to be terrifying…painful…humbling. And instead of risking failure, they never start. Now, none of MY students would ever be guilty of procrastination, would they?

I agree with her that the journey toward producing something whole and beautiful and satisfying is daunting. I faced it this summer as I stared at a binder FILLED with glorious choral music, just waiting to be studied. Where do you begin this process? How do you begin this process? Well, you certainly don’t “get ready to get ready to get ready” (sound familiar folks?). You just begin.

I always begin with lots of listening…it helps me to hear others’ interpretations of our pieces. It helps me, as I watch the score and listen, to mark the things I like and make notes about what I would do differently. Listening. It is key. That is why I put links at the bottom of this blog page…to encourage you to listen. You will never be the musician you long to be unless you do. It would be like trying to write the Great American Novel without ever having read one.

I listen for a lot, but mostly (at the beginning) for phrasing. For the musical setting of text. For the musical pictures that the composer is trying to describe with tone and shape and dynamics and motion.

Not passive listening, either…active listening. The kind I ask you to do in the confines of the rehearsal. But more on that later.

The Tonic

I think I should call this past summer “adventures in technology land”. Any of my students know that I rant and rave about their addictions to cell phones and Facebook…and this summer I decided “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!”. So I now text, use Facebook (only on occasion since I still think this eats up WAY too much time I don’t have) to touch base with alumni (only alums…sorry, kids. I see you at the campus every day…no need to Facebook with you at night!), check email from my phone and now…I am launching this “Notes from the Director” blog.

This actually has been something I’ve wanted to do for some time. I need to reflect after every rehearsal and would love to provide a model for my students to do the same. It is my philosophy that the performance is only one tiny piece of the musical puzzle. Most of the learning happens in the preparatory phase…i.e. the rehearsal and any score study that goes along with it. And if I reflect out loud here, I can devote more time to music in the rehearsal. Seems like a win-win for all concerned.

One of my conducting teachers in grad school impressed me with this statement: any good teacher or conductor worth his/her salt will spend reflection time (often, for her, at 2 a.m.)…thinking about the successes, the failures. Analyzing why something worked…why other things “crashed and burned”. It is the kind of analysis that pushes us all to be better at our craft (remember that term from last year?).

I will also be referring often to the book The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use if for Life by Twyla Tharp. This book is part of a Major Field Reading Initiative being piloted by our CCFA. Your colleagues in theater, art, journalism and languages are also reading this book with you.

This blog will be a work in progress. You’ll get to know more of what makes me “tick” as a musician and pedagogue (scary!) and hopefully, learn more about yourself as well.

Maybe even learn more about the art of making choral music. To me, there is nothing more beautiful than corporate music-making. More on that later…Dr. O