Conducting Course Memorandum

• in choosing repertory one must take into account the level and working efficiency of the orchestra, which depends upon, among others, the following things:
• Circumstances of rehearsals and concerts such as space, acoustic, and whether or not it is a concert hall or all-purpose space, etc.
• regular conductor
• Intendant ( General Manager)
• tours
• take notice of orchestra ´divas´, concertmasters, principals, librarian, organizers, Intendant and stage manager.
• make sure that the parts are in good shape in every possible way!
• arriving to the location = orientation

• prepare to get those who try to get out of rehearsals, complainers, flatters, latecomers
• ´´morning worship´´ = speech to the orchestra
• clothing, walk, expression, voice and content of your speech have an influence on the image the orchestra forms of you.
• tuning

• opening words
• work order
• ´´product description´´ of the work at hand

• commentary in words and gesture – posture – wait – hands – wait – speech when needed , ready into motion !
• decide whether you will run the whole section or in parts
• will you conduct like in performance or rehearsal ( exaggerated gestures)
• use your ears – eyes, remember what happens both in the playing and reaction. React with your expression, gesture, words.

• WHY DO YOU STOP? THERE BEGINS THE REHEARSAL!!
• possible praise and criticism
• to what extend do you listen to concert master, principals, and players´ comments?
  

6) Rehearsal method

• broad or precise approach?
• by section, stand or individual? Do you demand alertness from others?
• missing instruments = your ability to arrange

• time it in a suitable moment
• decide whether you use the break for rest, work, contacts (see#1) or talk rubbish
• the orchestras fatigue/concentration depends upon your efficiency!

• decide how you will use the next rehearsal
• agree on rehearsal times and other details with possible soloist or choir
• be ready for surprises: change of program, change of soloist, change of rehearsal times, etc.
• how do you use your spare time?

• do you want audience at the dress or how to prepare if it is already sold?
• rewiev the dress in your mind afterwards, figure out possible confusion in advance (unclear transitions, rhythm, intonation problems, other technical problems) but concentrate only on the message of the composer
• REST: NO EXTRA WORK NOISE ALCOHOL ETC !!

SOME HINTS FOR THE CONDUCTOR
by JORMA PANULA

I assume you know the scores and their secrets. To many the score looks like a secret code. Learning the score is the first requirement to leading an orchestra. Nevertheless, the most difficult part begins with orchestra rehearsal. As your instrument, you have a living machinery, complicated to handle, not some old fashioned band in an officer´s command. We are all musicians, doing teamwork. My pedagogical motto is:

HELP; BUT DON’T GET IN THE WAY

REHEARSAL TECHNIQUE: There are some aspects which must be known and planned in advance You will know howmuch rehearsal time you have but when the soloist shows up, time can be limited. Player`s absences and illnesses complicate the flow of rehearsals, as does the state of player` instruments, acoustics, air conditioning, etc. The degree of difficulty of the works is anyway the most important thing to consider in dividing the rehearsal time between pieces. Surprises will pop up from one place or another. COMING TO THE REHEARSAL: You will have become familiar in advance with the city´s sights and cultural characteristics, and you know VIP names. More important is to find out who the orchestra “divas” are, which are to be found in every orchestra.
The first contact with the orchestra is decisive. What kind of picture do you give of yourself? You can`´t give any other than what you are. Pretensions and false images will show through sooner or later. If you try more than you are capable of, it shows.
Some conductors have all kinds of equiqment with which they pretend to show their importance: towels, attention arousing stuff like baton cases, watches and other junk to get extra notice. Avoid all this. Be a player among players. Speak clearly and calmly. Respect people. Don´t imitate the player´s mistakes. Keep talking to a minimum. Posture should be as natural as possible, characteristic of the music, same with gestures. In some cases it is enough to beat time without expression or nuance; the musicians also have music which they have to read, not just sit around staring at you. So, feet and legs then: not bent and crooked, squatting or hammering the floor. Audible extra sounds and speech disturbs both the musicians and audience, and can get in the way of recording. Many recordingsessions need to be redone because of the conductor. Hands` position, neck stiffness, expression and looks are revealing and have an effect on the performance. It´s worth studying yourself not in a mirror, bur rather with video.
By playing the work you come to find the inner core. Minimize therefore your speech, always focus your words to the people farthest in the back, not personally unless you want to thank them for a beautiful solo. In any case, wait for silence before speaking. If there is some uncertainty regarding bowing, give time to the place in question, and then give the changes/corrections you want. When beginning from a new place, say the plance only once. This sharpens concentration.
Acknowledge wrong notes with a pokerface (show no expression). Everyone makes mistakes. If and when you stop the orchestra, ask yourself of its necessity, don´t just show that you noticed something. Start from the same place a maximum of three times. If after the third time there is still a problem, you need to change the gesture. You always have to new technique up your sleeve. When you rehearse an unknown piece measure by measure, every now and then play the large section. If you take a technically difficult section under tempo, don´t hammer out the beats, just listen (don´t get in the way). Measure numbers are diifcult to find when not every measure is numbered the way they are in many newer works. For this reason it is best to take new starts in the middle of the movement from or near rehearsal numbers or letters or tempo changes.
Show with your fingers what pattern you will beat. While playing it is also possible to do so, but show well ahead of time. Warn players of a dangerous place ahead by rising your hand, without baton, usually the left. When it is question of meter and pattern change, show the change with fingers ahead of time.
Nuances and Tempo change the first time through is best exaggerated, second time conduct as you would in concert. While playing you can call out directionsbut it is useless to try to speak or shout during forte sections. You can call attention by pointing to a player or group when helpful, but it is not necessary to stop the orchestra.
Situation comedy lightens heavy work, but there are limits. Too many jokes (especially stupid ones) make the atmosphere heavy. Be sensitive to when a situation is helped to break. If is becomes uncomfortably hot or especially if you become sweaty, don’t start scratching, clawing, poking and all kinds of antics, this gives an unsure, apelikeimpression. Simply call for an extra break.
Rehearsal continues in a friendly spirit while still maintaining a pure artistic working atmosphere. Staying fresh and creative, not routine, stimulates the rehearsal. If the orchestra absorbs things fast, it´s not necessary to make them play just to kill time. Players are very sensitive to this and the atmosphere drops. In the dress rehearsal, if there is time, orchestras like to play through the whole program without breaks (as with opera and theater). This way they know how to use their energy and concentration and best focus in the concert. If the Programm is too tiring for some winds or brass, you can invite them to save themselves for the concert. Again: HELP, BUT DON`T GET IN THE WAY !!

ON CONDUCTING

Jorma Panula

May this introduction be an intimidation-stimulus-encouragement. The curious will of course continue. How will you be able with you being and hands to express everything going on in your head. You are impatient. You want to bring out all your knowledge and explain your vision in any way as possible. It is good to have a vision, not just stand there beating away. That too the orchestra senses. Whether the performance machinery is ensemble, choir, opera, symphony orchestra, whatever, there are in the group many artists behaving in a different way who also have their own opinion of the piece at hand. Lets take for example a symphony where there is usually four movements. Have you thought of their relationship to each other? How much silence between the movements do you want and why? For example Brahms 1, where transition to the Finale must be sensed exactly, or Sibelius 2 the transition to the finale. Are you slowing down under the tempo of Finale ? Rather not because Romantic tempos go al next tempo.
Questions are pouring forth while examining the score? It is worth exploring for a lifetime (Zecchi). Because you always find something new iof you are open for chances, an innovative musician. Yet, we haven´t even talked about beating or rehearsal technique.That is already a new subject.
When you open the score, there is the name of the work. Opus number, composer, key maybe, tempo? And the menu…instrumentation. Where do you begin? You relate notation to tempo. For example if there is no tempo mark (older music) look at bass lines, they cannot go very fast. Think carefully before starting, otherwise the pulse will not live. It is most important. Everything is movement, rhythm. Everyone has their own pulse. Find with it the pulse of the work, the composer. Does it reject it…or?
In older music, markings were not necessary. Dances were known, and the suit are in their tempos. Menuet, allemande, gavotte, sarabande, etc. how many can dance them? It is worth taking some courses. One has to only listen to tango or waltz to know that they are played too fast. In the beginning of the waltz, woman had long skirts, no miniskirts (waltz musette). Men had heavy uniforms These just as hints for the tempo of these times.
Now we are only in the tempo marking. Easy but dangerous path is to listen to the masters recordings. Accelerated course to surface gliding. Examine the score yourself. The notation gives the answer, the piece will bring itself into focus. Character will also be found in the instrumentation. Read the whole work in your chosen tempo. Now you have a picture of the work in your head. Leave it there to stew in its own juices. You can take pictures of other works. Take the same works out after a week. You note that you remember many parts and at the same time you can deepen the whole. Also those places you were wondering about at prima vista have cleared. Now starts slower and deeper exploration. Maybe tempo changes and modulations will clear, if not, do it more times. If you can´t hear it in your head, play it on your instrument until you can hear the harmonies in your head. Explore the phrases, bowings, balance. There you can find problems because quite few composeres were masterful in instrumentation. On the other hand, the strength and color of the intrumentations have changed over time. For example, corno has doubled in power, French bassoon has changed to Heckel. I have observed countless poor balances. Many places don´t function without changing them a little. Even Mozart has a couple of spots. Why only every hundredth conductor corrects? Don´t they hear or dare? Beethoven sounds “clumpier” than Mozart. Brahms sounds too often brass heavy. Sibelius doubles too much many octave and fifth pedals). In Berg it is already a question of color. …difficult… For example the use of tuba and timpani in Sibelius is an ternal drag. One can´t leave them out but dynamics must be changed. Could it even been Kajanus imposing his Germaness? More difficult case are the low notes of oboe and bassoon. Not many players can play them ppp as marked. Second oboists are afraid among other things of Dvorak cello concerto second movement. It can be played by the way by English Horn. The same with Sibelius in many places for example in the Fifth Symphony second movement long low notes. Tchaikovsky Fifth and Sixth are also troublesome in this way. Try different kinds of bowing if possible. With famous orchestras it is no longer possible but…(Berglund). Ask experienced concert masters, don´t trust tradition. There you can find only many bad habits. Funtek was a skilful violinist in his time, but his fingerings in countless Bruckner passages didn´t go trough anymore in the sixties. In Prokofiev´s and Starvinsky’s scores are bowings and other markings of which only part is in use anymore. Punta dàrco for example in Sibelius has been erased in many spicatto places. One must find a sound vision in the notation. It is more important than the marked way of playing.
The tempos of the work are more important than one would believe in the beginning of the studies. A young person is in a Sturm und “Restaurant” period for many years and tempos go up and down 8as it should be), but they settle into their own little by little. They become personal. There probably are not two people who think exactly the same way. Above we mentioned already the transition to Sibelius 2. Finale. More examples of “mis”-understanding: Brahms 2 first movement Tranquillo towards end – before that is rallentando, ok, but later again rallentendo, but later again rallentendo, but sempre tranquillo – so more but rallentendo may not go under tempo. And then new. Mamma mia! There are countless of these. Explore for example Sibelius` use of al !!?? There is not always where to. Then also marks A Tempo and Tempo Primo. It looks like it is meant to be the same but no. Valse triste for example. Read. There are also many misprints, mainly missing dynamics. Not all conductors even know the difference with a tempo, they pronounce it wrong, like “ay” tempo. When then is B Tempo or C Tempo? I noticed this again and as recently as May 21, 1997. Unknown markings are also piu and sometimes meno. Sibelius meno is in many places not observed, even on recordings. Explore. Sibelius 1, meno andante=faster……………