{"id":420,"date":"2007-09-06T14:29:32","date_gmt":"2007-09-06T14:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2007\/09\/06\/back-in-bidnis\/"},"modified":"2007-09-06T14:32:30","modified_gmt":"2007-09-06T14:32:30","slug":"back-in-bidnis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2007\/09\/06\/back-in-bidnis\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in bid’nis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, summer is officially over, as I am officially back in rehearsals beginning tomorrow.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been some weeks since I\u2019ve been on the podium- my last major concert was Bruckner 4 on June 30, and then the OES Camp Honors Orchestra in late July. I\u2019ve not conducted in the month of August- hooray!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m glad to be getting back in there, as I\u2019m a happier person when I\u2019m conducting, and certainly a saner one. On the other hand, I could never have believed that the summer would go by so quickly.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m often asked by musicians what I do when I\u2019m not rehearsing- it\u2019s the sort of question you expect from audience members, but I get it all the time from players. The fact is, unless I make a point of going away and leaving scores and computers at home, I always have more to do than I could possibly get done.<\/p>\n

One of my goals this summer was to get to know the Beethoven Piano Sonatas a bit better. I\u2019ve played or conducted so much of Beethoven\u2019s other major works- I\u2019ve conducted almost all the major orchestral works except for Missa Solemnis, and played all the chamber music with cello that I know of, and even coached several of the violin and piano sonatas. On the other hand, I\u2019ve only known the Piano Sonatas as a fan. I started out in June by putting all of Andras Schif\u2019s wonderful lecture-recital series<\/a> on my iPod (with apologies to A.C. Douglas- the iPod is a wonderful thing used wisely) and listening to them during my many long commutes. I\u2019ve tried to then get to the piano to play through them as much as possible. I\u2019m a lousy pianist, but one of the good things about being a human being is that you can, if you want, bang through Beethoven sonatas at the piano. A real pianist is a rare thing, but anyone can use a piano as a tool, and you don\u2019t have to work around anyone\u2019s schedule or budget. However, summer\u2019s over and I\u2019ve only achieved a tiny fraction of what I\u2019d hoped for.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, for me, summer projects are a bit like New Year\u2019s resolutions for normal people- a goal you kind of know you\u2019ll never quite live up to. Next year\u2019s summer project is to write an orchestra piece. Yikes\u2026.<\/p>\n

The fact is, there\u2019s always more to do in the summer than one remembers during the year. The conducting workshop<\/a> involves tons of planning and administrative duties for\u00a0 me, and I have to learn all the music well enough to hopefully stay ahead of my students. Then, in the late summer it\u2019s time to really get ready for the coming year. I don\u2019t bow every piece I conduct- it depends on the orchestra and the piece, but I do bow quite a few, and just in the last week I\u2019ve mailed bowings to about ten pieces, which is a huge, huge amount of time-consuming work. (I\u2019ve been meaning to do an entire blog post on bowings, as I think that\u2019s exactly the sort of really exciting stuff Vftp readers are looking for). Along with that, people want blurbs to put on websites and in press releases, new bios, new photos and input on part assignments and auditions. Rehearsal schedules are being set, and that is very time consuming work, as you have to work through each piece in terms of difficulty and orchestration, then factor in problems with player availability, venues, soloists and even composers.<\/p>\n

Oh yes, I also have to learn all the music I\u2019m conducting this year\u2026.<\/p>\n

Well, the clock\u2019s run out, so now I can again get in front of 100 people and wave my arms about for a few months. Tomorrow starts rehearsals for what should be a fun program- Pictures at an Exhibition, Tchaikovsky\u2019s Romeo and Juliet, Kodaly\u2019s Dances of Galanta and Ravel\u2019s Mother Goose Suite. All fun and challenging stuff. I\u2019d be curious to hear from readers what you think the best piece on that program is- obviously they\u2019re all pretty great. Of course, nobody took the bait on my question about 10 pieces you should not smile while performing. I think I\u2019d surprise many of you with what I think is the real super-masterpiece ,though\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

c. 2007 Kenneth Woods<\/p>\n