Dissappearing woodwinds in the Chicago Symphony

With Eugene Izotov leaving for San Francisco the longest-serving principal of the woodwind section will be Stephen Williamson who started with the Chicago Symphony in 2011. In a blink of an eye the first chairs of the woodwinds have disappeared leaving the principal bassoon, flute, oboe, and horn positions vacant. For comparison, the newest member of the trombone section, Michael Mulcahy, joined in 1989.

"Unter Donner" Kleiber rehearsal

This is a rare video of a Carlos Kleiber rehearsal. There are a few others, including the maestro camera in the opera pit and the famous 1970 video of the rehearsal and performance with the Sudfunk Symphony Orchestra. This is a small window into the rehearsal process of one of the great conductors.

Kleiber rehearsal with Vienna Philharmonic

A few thoughts

1. Kleiber doesn't conduct from the score and only opens it up with reluctance
2. He sings the percussion part: note how he sings it and how it sounds in the final performance! 
1. If you hear the performance and sing it to yourself after, that's how it sounds!
3. Even the Vienna Philharmonic can be unprepared! 
4. The Vienna Philharmonic doesn't sound special -- note the difference between this and the performance! 

Performance in 1992 New Year's Concert

Performance by Bavarian State Orchestra on tour in Japan  in 1986

I think this performance is superior to the Vienna one above. Many of the gestures are the same but the orchestra realizes them more clearly and exuberantly. 

Mistakes

Musicians think a lot about mistakes. As a clarinetist, I think about – at a minimum – playing the correct pitches at the correct time, at the proper dynamic. Beyond this are questions of intonation, articulation, and tone. Even further removed is phrasing and expression.

I find that it’s as much as I can handle to get the performance as error-free and as full of life as possible.

– Robert Shaw

If perfection is the absence of error, it appears to be in conflict with a living expressive performance. Perfection is at odds with expression.

The challenge of orchestral playing

When an orchestra plays together, the result is judged as a whole. The piece springs from the imagination of one composer and is shaped by one conductor. An orchestral performance is greater than 80 solos played together.

If one player makes an error, then that unified sound of the orchestra is flawed. In Mozart for example, which depends on a superficial beauty and refinement – one missed note by one section player is an error for the entire orchestra.

Example

Let’s say you’re an orchestral musician, for example a section violinist, and you can play a Mozart symphony perfectly error-free 99% of the time. That means you can take 100 auditions and in 99 of them you play perfectly.

Now if an orchestra is composed of 60 musicians, there is only a 55% chance of an error-free performance (.99^60). For a top orchestra like the Chicago Symphony, this is unacceptable.

Let’s up the stakes again. If the orchestral musicians can play 99.9% error-free, their collective batting average is 94%. This is much better (but still far from perfect!). Getting from 99% to 99.9% is a combination of training and conservatism. The fact is orchestral musicians cannot take risks because collectively the orchestra will suffer – even if you only miss 1 in every 100 performances!

This line of thinking can explain how community orchestras struggle to play at a high level, even if a community orchestra is composed of fine players.

Taking risks

What makes music exciting is hearing a performer take risks. Usually these are well-calculated risks, say attacking a high note softly, and it pays off.

In this 1957 recording by Maria Callas, you can clearly hear her taking risks – singing at the limit of her ability. The cadenza, where she ascends to a high Eb and descends two octaves in a chromatic scale, is an example of a risk that paid off. A while later, in the ornamentation of the them, you hear an attempted ornament which misses the pitch, a risk which didn’t pay off.

One aspect of Maria Callas that doesn’t get enough attention is her ambitious risks. These were based on a study of the music and opera and which gave Callas a clear musical interpretation. The development and honing of her technique was due to the expression she wanted to give. As a performing artist, taking risks and pushing your limits is how you get better. I think this is the secret of Maria Callas: she wasn’t afraid to make mistakes in pursuit of expression.

I remember once we were at Covent Garden doing Traviata and at the end of "ah, fors'è lui" she would attack this note very softly and she'd crack it every night. I'd go backstage and say "oh Maria attack it a little bit louder, more forte, and then when you have the note you can diminish it and have your effect." This kept going night after night and finally I said, "You are a Greek, no use talking to you." She said, "Nicola, I won't compromise, I'll crack every night but I'm dying and that's the way it's going to be." 

- Nicola Rescigno

 There is a similar story of Callas cracking the first note of Casta Diva in Norma at the Met.

Here is another example. I had a chance to hear Lynn Harrell give a recital at Northwestern. It may have been a Beethoven Cello Sonata, I can’t recall, but there was a pizzicato passage with piano which he wanted to sound forte. Pushing the limits of his instrument, the plucking was too strong and the string slipped off the bridge. What happened next? Mr Harrell and the pianist stopped playing so the string could be put back and he joked to the audience that this happened in rehearsal too (he was aware of the risk). They started the piece again from the top, this time plucking less vigorously and the rest of the piece went off without incident.

The lesson was clear. Every musician’s worst nightmare happened to the Grammy Award-winning Lynn Harrell, he had to stop and restart. He was fine, and so was the audience. If Mr Harrell can make that mistake, then so can I! It wasn't the end of the world.

Conclusion

Take calculated risks. Know your role. If you are in an audition: it needs to be perfect! However, perfection isn’t the goal – expression is. Personally, I don’t worry about making mistakes – after all, if Maria Callas and Lynn Harrell could afford to miss, then so can I.  

The Physics of Music: How do reeds work?

This blog post attempts to answer the question, “How do reeds work?” I used to think that a reed “buzzes” and that buzz gets amplified and colored by the horn. That’s true…but not quite right! As with any substantial discussion we need to establish some background and context.

Factors in tone production

Let’s begin by establishing what you need to produce sound. Arnold Jacobs, sets out the 3 factors of tone production [1]

1. Motor function
2. Vibration
3. Resonance

Instrument	Motor function	Vibration	Resonance
Horn	Breath	Lips buzzing	Instrumental partial
Woodwind	Breath	Reed	Instrument
Singer	Breath	Vocal folds	Vocal column
Piano	Depressing key	Hammer	Vibrating string
Violin	Bow	Bow pulling string	Vibrating string

As an aside, the piano, harpsichord, and pizzicato strings have no sustaining motor function – once a note is played, you cannot put energy back into sustaining the sound and the note will diminuendo.

So what is responsible for producing a tone? The answer is all three factors working together: reed, motor function (air/bow), and instrument.

Air and reed

A flag fluttering in the wind is a good mental picture of how a reed vibrates [2]. The analogy is quite good, a stiffer flag needs a faster wind speed to flutter. A strong wind induces strong vibrations – often faster as well (as in the bassoon reed).

As air flows past the reed, into the mouthpiece and out the horn, it drops in pressure. This lowered pressure in the mouthpiece causes the reed to close off and narrow the gap. The pressure drop comes from the Bernoulli Equation and is related to the air speed not air volume. 

The dashed line indicates the position of the lips on the bottom and teeth on top. Air which flows into mouthpiece and out the horn has a lower pressure than the air in the oral cavity.

The reed resists further closing of the reed-mouthpiece gap and the result is a stationary reed in a flexed position with air flowing through the horn. Sound is not produced in this picture.

It is possible to balance the reed flexing with flowing air without producing sound!

Reed and Instrument

Putting air through the horn is not sufficient to produce a tone. We need instrumental resonance too!

The effect of an instrument resonance is a reverse puff of air in the opposite direction. Since sound is pressure waves, when one of these pressure waves (a note, like A = 440 Hz, is a pressure wave) reflects back into the mouthpiece, it relieves the pressure keeping the reed shut off and the reed springs open. As the reed opens, more air is let in, reinforcing the resonating wave traveling up and down the instrument.

Importantly, the reed vibrates in sync with the note and not at it's natural crow or buzz. For example, to play an octave above A 440, the reed must vibrate 880 Hz. It is a physical fact that stiffer reeds can vibrate faster, thus supporting high register pitches.

Conclusions

1. Lip buzz or reed vibration is sustained by air velocity. 
2. Have your air ready immediately to start a note.
3. Light tonguing may be required to kick start notes.
4. A smaller aperture (small mouthpiece/stiffer reed) requires more air pressure for a high enough air speed. 
5. A larger aperture (large mouthpiece/softer reed) requires more air volume to sustain air speed
6. A stiff reed may be required for the high register, conversely: a soft reed may be needed for the low register

References

1.  Instruments - Arnold Jacobs "Almost Live."  http://youtu.be/xfJAvhTwNNE
2.  Sound in Motion. David McGill

Musical Triage

I'm returning the SBCC bassoon this week which I've had for nearly a year. As the title of the post suggests, it was frustrating at times but through the challenges I emerged a better musician.

On Top Gear, James May said something to this effect:

Cars are fun when they are driven at their limit. The problem with a powerful Ferrari is that it has so much horsepower and grip that you'll never approach the limit of the car on public roads. With a small car like a Fiat Panda you can all of the power, almost all of the time -- it's more fun to drive.

While I wouldn't compare my technical ability on the clarinet to a supercar, it is more than adequate for ensemble repertoire I'll encounter at a community level. The experience playing such music, if I'm not careful, quickly becomes boring. However, when I had the chance to fumble around and learn a second instrument,  I found that on the bassoon I used all of my talent, almost all of the time. I played at the limits of my ability and the experience was fun.

The second anecdote comes from a masterclass Glenn Dicterow, concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic, held at the Music Academy last year. I forgot the details, so I'll just jump to the point. There was a passage that was impossible to play on the violin, not difficult -- impossible (a string crossing or something). In any case, his advice to fake it: identify what the composer wanted to say and find a way to say it.

I took this idea and ran with it! While my limitation were not imposed by the instrument, in practice they were the same -- I can't play what the composer wrote. What did I do? In a couple of words, fake it. It was often a case of musical triage, but by thinking musically I tried to stop technical problems from becoming musical problems.

Advice to Conductors

At rehearsals recently, I had in mind the phrase from WWII, "Loose lips sink ships." In other words, I try to keep my opinions to myself unless. That being said, I appreciate when someone comes up to me and offers advice. Here then are some of thoughts addressed to conductors, in no particular order.

1. Schedule and run rehearsals like a professional orchestra. Time is valuable to everyone, even students and amateurs

1a. Provide the music at least a week in advance.

1b. Prepare the parts in advance: bowings, phrasings, correct errors in the parts, fix bad page turns etc [Carlos Kleiber would bring in his own parts. Guilini prepared his own parts. Robert Shaw made a point of giving the musicians of the Atlanta Symphony their parts, with markings, at least a week in advance.]

1c. Provide a schedule in advance and stick to it. Place a clock with a large display that you, and the musicians can refer to.

1d. Know the parts, after all this is what is performed, not your score. [Kleiber]

2. Record rehearsals and make the recordings available for reference.

2a. Have the musicians consult for themselves whether the balances are correct and if their solo is projecting sufficiently.

3. All music is chamber music.

4. Don't conduct through solos.

4a. When possible, don't conduct at all. See #3. 

5. When rehearsing a passage slowly, remember it it still music: dynamics, intonation and phrasing still count. Learn notes in the proper dynamic.

6. Rehearse intonation in the proper dynamic context (don't allow a section to tune a pp chord at a comfortable mf).

7. Entrances must always be together.
7a. Have sections inhale during the preparatory beat, in time, to prepare the attack. [I'm convinced this is the secret to the CSO's low brass entrances which are always impeccably balanced and together!]

8. Show what you want through your conducting.
8a. Never say, "I'll do a rit. here" Just conduct it. 

8b. To ensure your gestures convey the music you want, practice in front of a mirror. [Carlos did]

9. Learn the names of the musicians who are bringing the music in your score to life.

9a. Refer to people by first name (John) or by last (Mr Doe or Dr Smith) and always be respectful. You can help set the tone of the rehearsal, formal or informal, this way. 

10. Conduct from memory. Conducting from a score is not necessary bad, but doing it from memory enforces a certain level of preparation.

10a. Conduct rehearsals from memory. [Carlos did, as did Mitropoulos.]

10b. Conducting music outdoors, by memory, removes any concern of pages blowing away. 

11. Light music shouldn't be taken to seriously.
11a. Be spontaneous!
11b. If it's boring or inane, go faster, this usually helps.

12. Never miss an opportunity to rehearse a transition. [Dr. Thompson]

13. Never practice, always perform! [Bud Herseth]
13a. Run through the concert repertoire, without stopping, often.

14. Don't stop if you miss-conduct a bar, especially if the band is able to continue on without a hitch.

15. Questions about individual notes should be answered outside of rehearsal, by email, after the rehearsal or during a break.

16. Ask your musicians to practice on their own time, outside of rehearsal.

17. Music must sing!

18. Have brass players buzz on their mouthpieces without their instruments. This is great for intonation and sound quality. [Dr. Thompon is big advocate of buzzing.]

19. Have musicians sing their parts. [Dr T]

20. To fix rhythms clap upbeats, sing or play part [Dr. T]

21. Use attack points to clarify the relationships between entrances. [Dr. T]

22. When tuning a chord, let people know what the chord is so they can figure out where they are in it and how to adjust. [Dr. Robblee]

23. Don't manipulate or play games with people. Be honest and sincere.

24. Two wrongs don't make a right: don't ask a section to "rush" a passage that they tend to drag.

25. Ensembles, with a sufficient baseline of technique, are limited to playing only as well as their conductor imagines they can play.

26. Always deal with music!
26a. Don't address musical problems by discussing technique. Request sound, not technique! [Arnold Jacobs]

27. Doubled lines less, divisi more. 

28. Everyone should know if they have the melody, the harmonization of the melody or accompaniment.

29. Play Bach

We May Roam Through This World

Thomas Moore (1779-1882) wrote these lyrics to the tune of Garry Owen which is more commonly heard played by the piccolo in a military band. The second verse is a subtle poke at the fraying of traditional courtship and marriage in England. It's beautifully sung by the Robert Shaw Chorale, and for me, hearing these songs is a study in phrasing, rhythmic precision, balance, refinement and expression.

We may roam through this world, like a child at a feast, Who but sips of a sweet, and then flies to the rest; And, when pleasure begins to grow dull in the east, We may order our wings and be off to the west: But if hearts that feel, and eyes that smile, Are the dearest gifts that heaven supplies, We never need leave our own green isle, For sensitive hearts, and for sun-bright eyes.   Then, remember, wherever your goblet is crown'd, Through this world, whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, Oh! remember the smile which adorns her at home. In England, the garden of Beauty is kept By a dragon of prudery placed within call; But so oft this unamiable dragon has slept, That the garden's but carelessly watch'd after all. Oh! they want the wild sweet-briery fence Which round the flowers of Erin dwells; Which warns the touch, while winning the sense, Nor charms us least when it most repels. Then remember, wherever your goblet is crown'd, Through this world, whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, Oh! remember the smile that adorns her at home. In France, when the heart of a woman sets sail, On the ocean of wedlock its fortune to try, Love seldom goes far in a vessel so frail, But just pilots her off, and then bids her good-bye. While the daughters of Erin keep the boy, Ever smiling beside his faithful oar, Through billows of woe, and beams of joy, The same as he looked when he left the shore. Then remember, wherever your goblet is crown'd, Through this world, whether eastward or westward you roam, When a cup to the smile of dear woman goes round, Oh! remember the smile which adorns her at home. Source: http://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/eire/wemayroa.htm http://www.contemplator.com/ireland/dauerin.html Irish Folk Songs - Robert Shaw Chorale