Directors, conductors, and performers are required to make performance decisions on every page of music. Early Music usually does not indicate phrasing, tempo, text underlay. In some cases, significant sections of notes and rhythm may not be present. Some contemporary music provides so many markings and performance information (and in ambiguous form) that the performer is still left with significant choices. This in-depth workshop will provide the tools and strategies needed to help students begin to make those decisions informed by scholarship and previous practice. It is particularly appropriate for conducting and literature classes, applied studios, and chamber ensembles.
Using score analysis, listening, and scholarly reading, students will be asked to answer particularly ambiguous performance decision questions in a particular piece of music. Examples of performance decisions that might be explored: What would be the "best" key in which to sing "Casta Diva" from Bellini's Norma?; What would be the "best" tempo for Bach's Concerto No. 1 for Keyboard and Orchestra?; What would be "best" metric accentuation, and tempi fluctuation in Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem?; What is the appropriate rhythm and pitches in a particular section of Sumer Is Icumen In
This workshop may be done in a single instruction session. However, two sessions allows more discussion where contrasting decisions may be explored. Requires out of class work with materials on reserve in Music Library