Orchestral Conducting

Last weekend ECU Symphony along with Chamber Singers performed Mozart's Requiem. What a satisfying performance!! Dr. Bara conducted the amazing performane, and I observed him non compos mentis so as to pick up all I could from my teacher about how to teach and conduct an orchestra. It's a bit of a different language, as you can't turn to the violins and ask for things like, "Violins, could you guys put a little more breath in that sound," or "Cellos, could we find that dome-space resonance in that tone?" So if these tricks don't work, what does? Dr. Bara sang to them a lot, and actually Dr. Jorge Richter, the symphony's regular conductor, sang to them as well - "Trombones, I wonder if we can make your B-flat sound like [insert a b-flat pitch] taww, rather than taaa." Dr. Richter also demonstrated rhythms verbally - "DI-da-da-da, violas...Again!" And Dan gave the players the benefit of the doubt of being able to read music well, but that passage was just a mistake; so his response would go something like, "Careful that your dotted quarters aren't too long, clarinets."

Anyway...another geeked out post.