by Kenneth Woods | Jun 3, 2007 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
Guiding principal- The more selflessly a performer follows the written instructions of the composer, the more personal their performance becomes. The more subjective their approach to what’s on the page, the more generic their performance tends to sound. This...
by Kenneth Woods | May 29, 2007 | A view from the podium, Music and Media, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
Think of the pianist and the piano….. I never thought I could be too sympathetic to instrumentalists who never have to worry about intonation.:) Deep down, most string players think pianists have it pretty easy in life, even if they do play a lot more notes than we...
by Kenneth Woods | May 25, 2007 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
Here is an interesting email exchange with a young conductor (not “quasi” that I can tell) in the Philippines. I love this aspect of the internet. Offered here, typos corrected where found (mostly mine as my message was written in great haste), for...
by Kenneth Woods | May 18, 2007 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
Charles Noble has a very interesting post on conductors and conducting- specifically, it is a list of ten things conductors would be wise to keep in mind when they get in front of an orchestra, which includes this week’s Quote of the Week- “…this is not the time to...
by Kenneth Woods | May 4, 2007 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts
Quote of the week from Boise— “He has decent things to say to the orchestra, but by the time he says them, you’ve stopped caring. It’s extremely difficult to pay attention. I’m trying, but failing miserably. I sat assistant principal last...
by Kenneth Woods | May 2, 2007 | A view from the podium, Nuts and bolts, Study with Ken
Any smart conductor knows that one thing you never want to tell an orchestra, unless you absolutely have to, is anything along the lines of “watch me,” “follow me” any other turn of phrase that can be translated as “obey my will, you scum.” On the other hand, there...
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