Buzzing Reed- Classical Music & Clarinet Culture

Discussing theory of music on a classical music station is not very smart. There are other ways to convey its complexity and character.

Although I am a professional musician, even I would agree with the statements below, excerpted from a Huffington Post article. Lennard Davis: How to Kill Classical Music?: Discuss It to Death on the Radio.

I keep returning to the theme of fresh approaches to convey the excitement of classical music to a novice listener.

The programs by the Chicago Symphony called “Beyond the Score” have succeeded in finding the right balance of history, anecdote, images, music sample, drama, and just enough simple theory to give the program some weight.

I applied some of these ideas to my recent recital programs in June. I excerpted several music samples and narrated how they fit together to create the overall mood of the music. I did not have expensive technology such as screens and image projectors. Nor did I have actors and dancers to add variety. But I achieved a positive response from my audience, who appreciated my relatively detailed introductions to the music we performed.

There is a general assumption that the listening public wants to hear about the technicalities of music that only the most sophisticated musicians enjoy discussing. I, for one, don’t! Such discussion are not about music, they are shop talk!

At least the Car Talk guys know that you need humor to get most of us past the details about carburetors and cam shafts.

If you want to interest more people in classical music, at least present the dramatic lives of the composers, the interesting history of music, or what it was like to be in a concert hall in Vienna in the 1800s. There are compelling human stories about the making of the music, the artists involved, the way audiences reacted to innovations.

I needed a little self-healing today. As I lay on my back, I found my breath and rolled very very slowly to one side, then the other.

Flow Breathing Legato

Image Credit

A video of me might show someone being quite lazy, just lying around on the floor for an hour, sighing and breathing!

During that apparently unproductive time, I gained a recharging of my whole being, mind and body. I also better acquainted myself with my greatest tool, my body, its motions, curves, and strengths, coordination. That time was spent charting that “tool” and finding its fluidity and resilience.

In no effort, you gain an invaluable neutrality from which so much else is possible. By only monitoring the breath, you can continuously release any tensions as they snag or “impede” the breath.

While rolling extremely slowly and effortlessly while keeping the breath un-disturbed, you will feel your core. (Your core is built around your spine, which is not on your back, but in your middle. All muscles in your core are subject to the fluidity and motion of your spine, and your breathing)

That’s all for now.

I got up from that need practice to come write this. But if you don’t mind, I’ll go back to it now.

Me on my day off!

photo credit: SodaHead

After several hundred answers, I can now report conclusive trends. (You are still welcome to add your votes, if you wish, at the Reader Survey)

1- Most readers like posts on subjects “Life as a Professional Musician” and “Practice and Breathing Techniques”. Check. That’s easy for me! That what I love to write about!

2- Regarding post regularity. It is clear that 7 posts a week works for most people. But 10 posts a week was a close second choice in the votes. Got it! 7-8 posts a week sounds good to me!!

3- As for my readers, you are quite a mixed bag, my friends!

In order from most to least, you are:

1) Music Hobbyists
2) Music Teachers
3) Don’t like classical music, but enjoy reading Buzzing Reed
(that one was a pleasant surprise!)
4) Music Students, almost tied with..
5) Professional Musicians
6) Music Lovers
7) Rock/Pop Musicians

4- In response to the question “If you would change one thing what would it would be”, you responded equality to “focus on clarinet” and “keeping it just as is”, you responded equally to each. In other words, many of you like the mix, but would enjoy more posts from my own experience and career.

AND, happily for me (Mr. Unpredictable), very few of you voted for a more regular posting schedule! WooHoo!

5- The vast majority of you use Facebook as your primary social media. (This helps me appreciate the quality readership I gain from FB rather than Twitter. Although many of my good Twitter friends become FB friends.)

These results are not much different from the quick report I gave a few days ago. But these further results indicate I have a greater variety of readers than I thought, which is great.

Thanks again for all your input.

I am a guest poster at my friend Marion Harrington’s blog. Let me know what you think. Marion Harington’s blog.

WooHoo!

A podcast is a recorded interview which can be easily downloaded to an iPod.

I began podcasting about 6 months ago when I started a series of interviews with musicians of the Columbus Symphony.

But the interview which became my first podcast was on a slightly different subject. I had an interest in interviewing my original clarinet teacher, Sidney Forrest, who is now 94. He guided me musically from Middle School through college, including several summers.

Of course, since this is a clarinet blog, I will continue with a series of clarinet players and teachers in addition to the series of Columbus Symphony musicians.

If you cherish a subject and passionately seek more depth in that subject, a great way to express that is through a podcast series on your blog.

My point is that both subjects are important to me, and benefit me in some way. Featuring the rich lives of musicians from my own orchestra, the Columbus Symphony, helps boost our public profile. And I benefit and learn from interviews with fellow clarinet teachers and performers.

If you don’t have a blog, that’s the easiest part! I’ll write a post on it in another series.

I’ll offer a quick 7 Step Crash Course in podcasting below but I will elaborate on each step in the following weeks.

The 7 Step Crash Course in Podcasting:

1) Get a self-hosted blog.

I have helped colleagues start their own blogs. They insisted on free services. When they wanted to post music they found that their free service was not so free when uploading large music files. Yet they have now established themselves on that site and don’t want to move. Too bad they didn’t plan ahead.

I recommend WordPress.ORG (not WordPress.com).

Self-hosted blogs are ultimately more flexible for cheaper, than WordPress.com or Blogspot for example…

…which charge for “extra” features such as being able to play music and which would prevent you from posting podcasts. Even if you have a blog, if it’s not self-hosted it’s worth switching.

2) Choose a podcast subject and theme.

While you are at it, name and number your series, something I still should do with mine.

I could call my Columbus Symphony musicians series “CSO Musicians”, and my clarinet series “Clarinet Topics” for example. So I might have “CSO Musicians #12: John Smith, Violin” or “Clarinet Topics #7: Larry Combs on Mouthpieces”. That way they are easily recognizable without a long description.

The subject is relatively easy to choose because it’s more general. You might decide on music education, or musician histories, or clarinetists.

A theme defined by set questions asked of each interviewee helps to give continuity to the content of the podcasts.

If it’s music education, for example, what aspect do you wish to concentrate on? Band conducting, orchestra coaching, private students, a particular instrument, or perhaps government arts policy? Music education includes quite a broad variety of topics!

The easiest way to do that is to choose a series of specific questions which you can send each interviewee. That way your listeners will know the general structure of the next podcast as they become familiar with it.

The continuity of the questions from episode to episode will also illuminate the differences in between interviews, such as different stories, or the various tangents or jokes which may arise.

3) Line up a list of people you want to interview.

I emphasize “want to” because the conversation is much more enjoyable to listen to if both parties enjoy talking to each other.

If you attempt to interview people you do not relate to or whose expertise lies completely outside your own comfort zone, the rhythm of conversation will reflect that.

For example, although I am a well established principal clarinetist I do not feel personally comfortable simple asking the principal clarinetist of the Berlin Philharmonic for an interview. Perhaps after I have established myself by interviewing several other clarinetists with whom I have a friendship I will be ready to move to bigger “game”.

4) Now you need a way to record the interview.

If you have a recording machine for practice, that will work. Or if you have a voice recorder of any kind, you can record in person interviews.

But many prospective interviewees will require long distance communication. What then? How do you record a phone conversation for later download and editing?

There are several free online conference call recording services such as Free Conference Calling and Free Conference Calls. But I am always wary of site that offer free in their name. It usually means it is free at first. I have not tried the services I just listed, so they may be perfectly free.

I prefer the wonderful and versatile (and also free!) Calliflower.com site…

…which allows you to record phone “conferences” which you can easily set up online via Calliflower, and then down load to edit and post. You can also record directly to most computers if you have a microphone.

5) You will also need software to edit the sound.

It’s not hard at all to do, but it may take a few hours to grow accustomed to.

For around $50 I downloaded a full package of sound, video editing and video converting software from AVS4YOU.com.

There are free editing softwares out there, but most of them require an upgrade to do anything beyond cut and paste, such as balancing volume. My software is not fancy, but it is flexible, and good enough to spruce up a raw interview.

6) It is advised to edit your interviews.

Besides reducing the pressure for either you or your interviewee flubbing something, it is advisable to remove some of the “Ummms” and Uhhhhs.

A few pauses in conversation gives it a natural rhythm, but too many and the detached listener will tune out.

If you are interviewing performers, soloists or composers or orchestral players, I advise adding a sample of their playing to the podcast track. I like to add a 5-7 second snippet before the interview, and a full movement at the end, perhaps 5-10 minutes.

7) Finally: broadcast your podcast effectively.

I use Blubrry podcast plugin for WordPress free-standing installs such as mine. I love this plugin.

I admit it takes a bit of patient probing to fulfill the capabilities of Blubrry Powerpress Plugin, but it’s worth it. You can track stats for free, post to iTunes free, all integrated into your WordPress dashboard.

Blubrry gives you all the tools to post to iTunes, a great way to get your podcasts out to the larger public beyond your blog.

There you have it! If you absorbed all that, you are ready to podcast. However, I understand if that was a bit too much information to absorb in one post.

Don’t worry. I will be writing detailed articles about each of these steps in the near future.

A fun little “zen” like poem.

Lesson

“Do not try so hard”
you said.
“Listen to the notes.”

I will not concentrate
on anything except
wild cherry trees.

They are in bloom.
They are in bloom.
They are in bloom.

(From Mixed Voices: Contemporary Poems about Music. Ed. Emilie Buchwald and Ruth Roston)

From a blog devoted to planning, managing and music directing a school musical, author Peter Hilliard uses a tight format to guide any school music director through the whole process. Each post begins with “True Story” then offers well organized “Advice”.

The blog is quite new, started in May. Well done Peter.

Contracting Your Pit Orchestra « Music Directing the School Musical.

Here is an excerpt, but the all the article are worth the time to read, especially for band directors and music educators who plan and direct their school musicals.

1) Don’t hire every a person for every book they send you. Here’s my method: When the box arrives, I take out the drums, bass, and piano books and put them aside. (and guitar for a rock show) I then stack the remaining books from fattest to thinnest. (no joke) The 3 or 4 fattest books and the drums, piano, and bass books get hired. The other books go back in the box. Why not hire the whole box? Well, even if you have the money to do that, the more people you have in your pit, the greater your balance problems, and the more fights you’ll have with the sound crew. Plus, unless you happen to have a bunch of guys who are awesome at your disposal, more people is harder to keep together and there is a higher chance you’ll hire a dud.

2) You’ll have to decide what your goals are for the pit experience. If you really want to use it as an educational experience for the instrumental students, you owe it to them, and to everyone else working on the show to have a bunch of rehearsals; enough rehearsals that they really know the book. Putting under-rehearsed kids in a pit under a well rehearsed show is just a crying shame, and it demoralizes the kids who are playing the music they don’t know. If you don’t have time to really work it, please hire professionals.

3) My criterion for pit players is simple, but I learned the hard way.

a) The player basically needs to be good enough to read the book at sight. Things are going to go wrong in the pit, and if your players are worrying about reading the book, they’ll never catch up when the thing goes off the rails.

b) They have to have a good sense of humor. You’re going to be at some crappy and long rehearsals, and having a sour face in there with you stinks. I don’t care how good you are, if you can’t crack a smile, I don’t want you in my pit.

c) They have to get back on the train. If you get lost, find your way again, or at least try. When I have a player get that look of confusion, then give up and look up at the stage with a shrug, I know it’s not going to work out. A good pit player will be listening and try and find a landmark to get back on track again.