The Score, the Orchestra, and the Conductor

The Score, the Orchestra, and the Conductor

Author: Gustav Meier

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2009-08-26

Total Pages: 510

ISBN-13: 0199716900

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Known internationally for his work as a teacher of conducting, Gustav Meier's influence in the field cannot be overstated. In The Score, the Orchestra and the Conductor, Meier demystifies the conductor's craft with explanations and illustrations of what the conductor must know to attain podium success. He provides useful information from the rudimentary to the sophisticated, and offers specific and readily applicable advice for technical and musical matters essential to the conductor's first rehearsal with the orchestra. This book details many topics that otherwise are unavailable to the aspiring and established conductor, including the use of the common denominator, the "The ZIG-ZAG method", a multiple, cross-indexed glossary of orchestral instruments in four languages, an illustrated description of string harmonics, and a comprehensive listing of voice categories, their overlaps, dynamic ranges and repertory. The Score, the Orchestra and the Conductor is an indispensable addition to the library of every conductor and conducting student.


The Beat Stops Here

The Beat Stops Here

Author: Mark Gibson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0190605871

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In The Beat Stops Here: Lessons on and off the Podium for Today's Conductor, master conductor Mark Gibson addresses the technique of conducting as an extension of intimate knowledge of the score to the hands and arms. He employs a variety of everyday activities and motions (brushing the dog, Tinkerbelle, the "door knob") to describe the physical aspects of the role. He advocates a comprehensive, detailed approach to score study, addressing major works bar-by-bar in terms of both musical analysis and conducting method. Finally, Gibson explores the various roles a conductor plays, as a teacher, a scholar and a member of the musical community. His writing is highly focused, with an occasionally tongue-in-cheek, discussing everything from motivic development in Brahms to how to hold a knife and fork in public. In short, The Beat Stops Here is a compendium of style and substance in the real world of today's conductor.


Guide to Score Study for the Wind Band Conductor

Guide to Score Study for the Wind Band Conductor

Author: Frank Battisti

Publisher: Meredith Music

Published: 2000-03-01

Total Pages: 123

ISBN-13: 1476850674

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(Meredith Music Resource). This outstanding "one-of-a-kind" text was designed to assist the conductor in achieving a personal interpretation of music.


Music Direction for the Stage

Music Direction for the Stage

Author: Joseph Church

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015-01-02

Total Pages: 417

ISBN-13: 0199993432

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Theater music directors must draw on a remarkably broad range of musical skills. Not only do they conduct during rehearsals and performances, but they must also be adept arrangers, choral directors, vocal coaches, and accompanists. Like a record producer, the successful music director must have the flexibility to adjust as needed to a multifaceted job description, one which changes with each production and often with each performer. In Music Direction for the Stage, veteran music director and instructor Joseph Church demystifies the job in a book that offers aspiring and practicing music directors the practical tips and instruction they need in order to mount a successful musical production. Church, one of Broadway's foremost music directors, emerges from the orchestra pit to tell how the music is put into a musical show. He gives particular attention to the music itself, explaining how a music director can best plan the task of learning, analyzing, and teaching each new piece. Based on his years of professional experience, he offers a practical discussion of a music director's methods of analyzing, learning, and practicing a score, thoroughly illustrated by examples from the repertoire. The book also describes how a music director can effectively approach dramatic and choreographic rehearsals, including key tips on cueing music to dialogue and staging, determining incidental music and underscoring, making musical adjustments and revisions in rehearsal, and adjusting style and tempo to performers' needs. A key theme of the book is effective collaboration with other professionals, from the production team to the creative team to the performers themselves, all grounded in Church's real-world experience with professional, amateur, and even student performances. He concludes with a look at music direction as a career, offering invaluable advice on how the enterprising music director can find work and gain standing in the field.


A History of Orchestral Conducting

A History of Orchestral Conducting

Author: Elliott W. Galkin

Publisher: Pendragon Press

Published: 1988

Total Pages: 944

ISBN-13: 9780918728470

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Although the bibliography of literature about personalities in the conducting world is extensive, a comprehensive, scholarly study of the history of conducting has been sorely lacking. Georg Schünemann's respected study, published in 1913, was brief and restricted to the procedures of time-beating. No work has attempted to examine the role of the orchestral conductor and to document the evolution of his art from historical, technical, and aesthetic perspectives. Dr. Elliott W. Galkin, musicologist, conductor, and critic-twice winner of the Deems Taylor award for distinguished writing about music-has produced such a work in A History of Orchestral Conducting. The central historical section of the book, which examines chronologically the theories and functions of time-beating and interpretative concepts of performance, is preceded by discussions of rhythm, development of the orchestral medium, and the evolving characteristics of orchestration. Conductors of unusual pivotal influence are examined in depth, as is the increasingly complex psychology of the podium. Critical writings since the time of Monteverdi and the birth of the orchestra are surveyed and compared. Analyses of conducting as an art and craft by musicians from Berlioz to Bernstein and commentators from Mattheson, Bernard Shaw, and Thomas Mann to Jacques Barzun, are described and discussed. A fascinating collection of engravings, wood cuts, photographs and caricatures contributes to the richness of this work.


Score and Rehearsal Preparation

Score and Rehearsal Preparation

Author: Gary Stith

Publisher: Meredith Music

Published: 2011-05-01

Total Pages: 98

ISBN-13: 1574632086

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(Meredith Music Resource). This text is sure to provide the most practical approach to orchestra and wind band score study ever published. It methodically simplifies preliminary score study and initial rehearsal preparation for all conductors of band, orchestra and chamber ensembles. It is enormously valuable for practicing conductors from elementary school to those leading professional ensembles. As a supplement to undergraduate and graduate level instrumental conducting classes, it is an extremely effective text. The unique features of this innovative publication include: * an easy-to-read format that systematically walks the reader through the entire score-study process * complete full score to Flourish for Wind Band by Vaughan Williams used as the study score throughout * compositional flowchart of the Vaughan Williams work * Score and Rehearsal Preparation Worksheet that can be reproduced and used with any wind band or orchestral score (and maintained for future use) * seating-arrangement diagrams of nationally renown wind bands and orchestras * comprehensive glossary of standard instrument abbreviations * standard band and orchestra instrumentation reference chart * selective and detailed bibliography containing specific sources that will prove invaluable in the preparation of all instrumental scores.


Settling the Score

Settling the Score

Author: Kathryn Kalinak

Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press

Published: 1992-12-01

Total Pages: 267

ISBN-13: 029913363X

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Beginning with the earliest experiments in musical accompaniment carried out in the Edison Laboratories, Kathryn Kalinak uses archival material to outline the history of American music and film. Focusing on the scores of several key composers of the sound era, including Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Captain Blood, Max Steiner’s The Informer, Bernard Herrmann’s The Magnificent Ambersons, and David Raksin’s Laura, Kalinak concludes that classical scoring conventions were designed to ensure the dominance of narrative exposition. Her analyses of contemporary work such as John Williams’ The Empire Strikes Back and Basil Poledouris’ RoboCop demonstrate how the traditions of the classical era continue to influence scoring practices today.


The Silent Musician

The Silent Musician

Author: Mark Wigglesworth

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2019-03-21

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 022662255X

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The conductor—tuxedoed, imposingly poised above an orchestra, baton waving dramatically—is a familiar figure even for those who never set foot in an orchestral hall. As a veritable icon for classical music, the conductor has also been subjected to some ungenerous caricatures, presented variously as unhinged gesticulator, indulged megalomaniac, or even outright impostor. Consider, for example: Bugs Bunny as Leopold Stokowski, dramatically smashing his baton and then breaking into erratic poses with a forbidding intensity in his eyes, or Mickey Mouse in Fantasia, unwittingly conjuring dangerous magic with carefree gestures he doesn’t understand. As these clichés betray, there is an aura of mystery around what a conductor actually does, often coupled with disbelief that he or she really makes a difference to the performance we hear. The Silent Musician deepens our understanding of what conductors do and why they matter. Neither an instruction manual for conductors, nor a history of conducting, the book instead explores the role of the conductor in noiselessly shaping the music that we hear. Writing in a clever, insightful, and often evocative style, world-renowned conductor Mark Wigglesworth deftly explores the philosophical underpinnings of conducting—from the conductor’s relationship with musicians and the music, to the public and personal responsibilities conductors face—and examines the subtler components of their silent art, which include precision, charisma, diplomacy, and passion. Ultimately, Wigglesworth shows how conductors—by simultaneously keeping time and allowing time to expand—manage to shape ensemble music into an immersive, transformative experience, without ever making a sound.


Knowing the Score

Knowing the Score

Author: David Papineau

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0465094945

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In Knowing the Score, philosopher David Papineau uses sports to illuminate some of modern philosophy's most perplexing questions. As Papineau demonstrates, the study of sports clarifies, challenges, and sometimes confuses crucial issues in philosophy. The tactics of road bicycle racing shed new light on questions of altruism, while sporting family dynasties reorient the nature v. nurture debate. Why do sports competitors choke? Why do fans think God will favor their team over their rivals? How can it be moral to deceive the umpire by framing a pitch? From all of these questions, and many more, philosophy has a great deal to learn. An entertaining and erudite book that ranges far and wide through the sporting world, Knowing the Score is perfect reading for armchair philosophers and Monday morning quarterbacks alike.