Speedlinking - 22 December 2011

As the year winds down to a close, here are some interesting links from the news and blogosphere that are worth a look over the next few days:

• Guttural or alveolar? Norman Lebrecht looks at the proper way to enunciate one's r's in German. 
• It all starts with us - Nicole Murphy writes about developing a studio concert culture.
• I met pianist and conductor Kevin Class some time ago in Holland - hear what he has to say about collaborating with a conductor. 
• Are you from a small town and study or work in the big city? Lachlan Glen shows how to get back to your roots with a musical thank-you concert.
• Collaborative pianist, teacher, and writer Ashley Danyew (see her play here) writes her own version of The Night Before Christmas, choir-style.
• Kennith Freeman shares what he has learned from his first semester as staff accompanist at Union University.
• Erica Sipes gives some advice gleaned from playing for loads upon loads of juries.
• And finally, congratulations go to Tracy Cowden, whose discovery of a little-known book of poetry in the Virginia Tech library led to both the commissioning of a new song cycle by Daron Hagen and a debut in New York City. 

Meme of the Day

Another Useful Accompanist Career Guide

The Music Council of Australia's Music Career Wiki has just published a very informative career guide on the Accompanist, with sections on skills, prospects, training, and more. The rundown of specialist skills was particularly informative, as was the wording on interpersonal skills:

Accompanists need good interpersonal skills, because their clients are not always very good players or singers, and they may have personality traits that do not appeal to the accompanist. An even temper and extreme patience are required to produce the best possible outcome for the client. Nerves of steel are needed in concert or other performance situations if the client loses his/her place in the music — the accompanist has to be able to make the necessary adjustments to save the performance from disaster.

I also like this comment from Jilliane Stoll at Opera Queensland:

Surely there is no greater joy than to be making music WITH someone. The likelihood of a pianist ever “making it” as a soloist is virtually nil. So one must consider either teaching or accompanying as a career path. Just think about the diversity of musicians/singers that one can play for: individuals, big groups, small groups, theatre/ballet groups … a rewarding collaboration, both musically and socially! Accompanying is fun — so become an accompanist. You won’t regret it.

What You Need to Know About Marking for Singers

Today's guest post was written by soprano Elisabeth Turchi. Based in Central Pennsylvania, Elisabeth has sung with the Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Delaware, Opera Camerata of Washington D.C., Atlantic Coast Opera Festival, Harrisburg Opera, New Opera Festival of Rome, and Gotham Chamber Opera. Ms. Turchi’s numerous concert engagements include Handel’s Messiah at Massachusetts’ Mechanics Hall and a European tour of Haydn’s Creation. Elisabeth's guest post arose out of a conversation with NY-based vocal coach Jennifer Peterson about maintaining vocal health through a busy rehearsal schedule.



In every singer’s life, there comes a time when we must mark. Marking is a way of singing quietly during rehearsals in order to protect one’s voice. Reasons for marking are varied: perhaps you didn’t get enough sleep, or maybe you didn’t have the opportunity to warm up sufficiently. But what if you have only one rehearsal with a pianist for a very important audition? You have just one chance to prepare your work together, and you’re not up to a full- voiced session. So, go ahead – mark.

The question is: how do you communicate everything necessary to a pianist when you mark?

The key to successful marking is to always give your colleagues what they need to do their job. Whether your colleague is another singer, a pianist, instrumentalist, or conductor, you must give them clear cues. They need crisp diction, clean entrances, and clear cut- offs. Yes, you can sing quietly, and yes, you can drop down the octave, but the energy level must remain high. Often when singers mark, they slow the tempo, change the length of notes or rests, and give very dull interpretations. If your intentions are not clear, your colleagues will not know what you want from them. Keep your interpretation alive so they will know when to swell to a forte with you, diminuendo with you, and breathe with you.

You want to give the best you can. Give them what they need to do their best as well, and you’re on your way to a successful collaboration! Cheers!

Meme of the Day

In case you don't get the BSG reference, you can find a full explanation of the Someone to Watch Over Me episode here and the iconic musical moment here.

The Piano Guys' Lightsaber Duel

The Piano Guys' Steven Sharp Nelson (previously seen in a brilliant David Guetta cello/piano cover) is back, this time in a cello duet duel with two....lightsabers.

Backstage at the Fern Hill Christmas Show

Here's the keyboard setup I used earlier this evening while playing for the Fern Hill School Christmas Show at the Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts. Yes, that's a triangle on the left side, and this was my debut doubling on that noble instrument. Shown faintly on the iPad is the running order of the show - there was only one program on stage left so I took a shot of it with my iPad's camera.

Also in the band were Lord Bubba on bass guitar, Jeremy Kelly on guitar, and Riley O'Connor on drums. I don't get a chance to play much rock or jazz these days, so it was a great pleasure to work with these guys, and it's a great experience for the kids at Fern Hill to work with a professional band, all under the guidance of musical directors Amanda Nelli and Chris Cigolea.

Meme of the Day: Piano Squirrel

Mid-December Linkfest

The last few weeks have been some of the busiest of the year for me, with recent highlights including delivering the 2010-11 financial report for the Royal Conservatory Faculty Association, examining in Boston for the Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory Achievement Program, watching Wendy in an awesome performance of the Ruckert Lieder with the Oakville Symphony, and rehearsing for Fern Hill School's Christmas Concerts this week. All this is in addition to a career-high 54 students so far this year, thanks to the publicity generated by 31 Days to Better Practicing. And you wondered why I gave away my ebook for free.

Several articles from around the blogosphere have provided food for thought, and I don't just mean Classical Music Humor or Occupy the Practice Room on Facebook, nor Jeremy Denk's #OccupytheProgramNote (even though it was somewhat preposterous for the unfortunate program note author to have called K. 415 an "odd bird").

Aaron Gervais' Why Composers Should Drop Out of University (and What They Should Be Learning) is a wake-up call for all those who have been lulled into thinking that academia is the center of the musical universe. What he says about the composition industry could equally apply to performance field as well:

Even at the best of times, the rela­tion­ship between acad­e­mia and the cre­ative arts (com­pos­ing, film­mak­ing, lit­er­a­ture, chore­og­ra­phy, visual arts, etc.) has been prob­lem­atic. Today, it’s even more so—many schools have an overt inter­est in pro­duc­ing unsuc­cess­ful artists. It’s not that there’s some nefar­i­ous grand agenda, it’s just that the eco­nom­ics of art and of art school are very com­pli­cated, and well-meaning edu­ca­tors haven’t found a bet­ter solu­tion. The many “fail­ures” end up sub­si­diz­ing the few super­stars. From the per­spec­tive of the stu­dent, it’s a bad deal, but maybe it’s the best deal there is. When they real­ize this, most stu­dents become dis­il­lu­sioned and cyn­i­cal and choose one of three paths: (1) drop out of music alto­gether; (2) carve out their own bunker within acad­e­mia; (3) look for alter­na­tive ways to make music.

Part 2 of the article is also worth the read, and offers some solutions.

I've been talking about ornamentation a lot recently, and Nicholas Phan's The Rules provides a useful perspective on keeping your head in the right place when dealing with the often conflicting needs of historical authenticity, tradition, and artistic license:

A few years ago, I was rehearsing with a pianist for an upcoming concert, and I couldn’t remember what the rule was regarding whether to approach a trill from above or directly on the note when singing a certain composer’s music. I asked her if she remembered the rule, and she said to me, “I don’t do rules.”

While her response seemed hilariously rebellious at first, I came to see a lot of logic to her point. Much like Italian cuisine, which varies so much from region to region, so do people’s ideas of “rules” in music. Encounter an Italian from one region of Italy, they will tell you that unequivocally you do not use garlic when preparing a certain sauce. Travel just an hour south, and ask an Italian from that region about said sauce, and they will tell you unequivocally that you MUST use garlic when preparing that sauce. Both are equally convinced that they are telling you the rules, despite the fact that they are telling you the opposite.

So maybe you don't have to worry so much about these guys coming after you when rendering those upper mordents.

Because at the end of the day, it's what you're comfortable with. Even if you would prefer to be called an accompanist. Even if you need to change direction when the need arises. Because just beneath the surface, your brain knows more than you realize.