Note to self:

Finale-ing for 10 hours nonstop last night was not the best idea.  I may want to avoid having to do this in the future. 

Off to rehearsal on 5 hours of sleep (but with entire pit in correct keys!) . . .


*exhausted giggle*

A Freelance Musician's Life

I'm in a lull right now, work-wise, which gives me time to (well, actually write something, but in addition) enjoy the silence, so to speak. I started the year with a nice schedule and actual days off.  

Then I took on another MT show (with lots of rehearsal hours) and juries came. Rehearsals kept me out late every night of the week, and I was driving all over the place. I had to juggle my schedule a lot, sometimes hiring subs for one job so I could go do another. It all left me feeling something like this:

As far as freelancing goes, this is the norm: waves of work followed by dead spots. Lots of driving. Finding subs. Scheduling, scheduling, scheduling. 

So I'm enjoying the fact that I don't need to be anywhere right now.  I get to exploit my other interests, like cooking . . . which I did this evening. Tonight I attempted Kung Pao Chicken again - a dish I still haven't perfected*. It wasn't bad, but it still isn't 'right'.  Sigh.

I know things'll pick up soon. In the meantime, I'm catching up on Fringe.    

* The cooking oil pumped out noxious fumes that chased my husband from the room (he managed to cough out a rough, "Smells good," as he closed the door).

Artists Drawing Pianos

Diego Manuel page l - and page 2

I Like the Cheshire Cat smile on this one

Dance Accompanist Opportunity

Musicians Mentoring Program - 

at Canada's National Ballet School

The Musicians' Mentoring Program is a five-day intensive program designed to hone the musician's skills as a dance accompanist. It is offered each year in late January and early February, though in special circumstances, alternative dates can be arranged. Participants may choose a Monday to Friday or Tuesday to Saturday block.

Musicians will experience a variety of dance classes, including professional, recreational and adult ballet, modern/contemporary and creative dance. The flexible program is designed to meet the needs of every pianist, from the emerging musician to those with considerable experience. Areas of specific interest to individual participants can be highlighted. Each day will include a mix of observation and hands-on participation, plus a one-hour discussion with our musicians. All participants will have a final review session with Marina Surgan, Principal Pianist. For eligible participants there is also the opportunity to play for a class alongside the NBS mentoring musician.

Failed Slogan 2:

We put the ‘Borat’ into ‘Collaborative Piano’

Failed Slogan:

We put the ‘Labor’ into ‘Collaborative Piano’

I See Bass!

Professional Training Workshop Opportunities

Carnegie Hall Weill Music Institute - Professional Training Workshops

*2011 opportunities lapsed*

On their Online Resource Center, there are some videos of James Levine's Master Class: The Song Continues from 2010.  They also have music curriculum ideas and other things worth checking out.

The "Proceed With Caution List" - please, contribute!

Recently, I heard of a trombone student who had to cancel his recital due to a last-minute loss of his pianist.  The reason?  Repertoire, mainly Šulek's Sonata "Vox Gabrieli" (notorious among pianists for its devilish accompaniment).

There's a lot of rep out there that takes HOURS to learn, even for experienced pianists.  Pianists on Facebook (People for the Ethical Treatment of Accompanists) kicked the idea around in a 'Repertoire Difficulty Level' discussion, naming repertoire from their own experience.  I pulled together a list, offering two categories: pieces originally written for piano and orchestral reductions.*

If nothing else, pianists should:  

Double check before saying yes to Hindemith or any saxophone repertoire. 

Originally for piano and [fill in the blank]

Casterede Sonatine, trombone and piano

Creston Saxophone Sonata

Desenclos Prelude Cadence and Finale, sax and piano

Jolivet Chant de Linos, flute and piano

Franck Violin Sonata

Heiden Saxophone Sonata

Ravel Tzigane, violin and piano 

Schubert Variations On 'Trockne Blumen', flute and piano

Strauss Violin Sonata

Šulek Vox Gabrieli, trombone and piano

Weber Duo Concertante, clarinet and piano

Orchestral reductions:

Copland Clarinet Concerto

Dvorak Cello Concerto

Ibert Concertino for Sax

Strauss 2nd horn concerto

Walton Viola Concerto

Vocal lit should have it's own space . . . I may have to do that next.

*Orchestral reductions get their own category because playing them calls for the ability to make an orchestral sound, in addition to the ability to read (and to discern what to bring out/leave out/etc).

Playbill Articles & Resources

Playbill.com is a great resource in general, but they have a couple of specific sections that I wanted to call attention to:  

Ask Playbill.com is a weekly column that answers questions about theatre. 

Casting and Jobs: Job Listings is a job database for job-seekers. 

Here are links to some articles that address some aspects of music directing:

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Music-Related Jobs

Question: Can you talk a little bit about the music department of a musical? What happens to a musical score once it is written by the composer?  How many people get involved (i.e. orchestrator, musical director, arranger, etc.) and how important is each position?  Can you compare today's practices with the way they were done in the "Golden Age" of Broadway (50s and 60s)? Can you also talk about what happens when a show is revived and how that show's score is dealt with?

Answered by: Seymour "Red" Press, musical coordinator of Passing Strange and the current revival of Gypsy.

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: The Vocal Arranger

Question: Regarding the artistic staff of a Broadway musical, what exactly does a vocal arranger do? If a vocal arranger writes harmonies for the songs in the score, why doesn't the show's composer write them?

Answer: Carmel Dean, the 28-year-old vocal arranger on The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: The Dance Arranger

Question: What does a dance arranger do?

Answer: David Chase, the dance arranger for the current Broadway shows Cry-Baby, Curtains and The Little Mermaid.

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Rehearsals

Question: What makes an Equity rehearsal different than a typical community theatre rehearsal?

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Length of Broadway Rehearsals

Question: How long is the rehearsal process for musicals before their opening night, and how often does a cast rehearse after a show opens, if at all?  

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Rehearsal Schedule

Question: What are the attendance rules for professional performers during the rehearsal process? How much notice must they give for a conflict and does the union provide for a certain number of absences? 

ASK PLAYBILL.COM: Those Broadway Swings

Question: "Could you tell me what is the exact role of a swing in a show?"

Victor Borge on the muppet show

Concert for Anarchy

From a few different angles . . . 

Artist: Rebecca Horn

Piano Balloon Art

Probably not a good idea if you have cats . . .

Is it Just Me?

Yesterday, I was rehearsing the Handel aria, "V'adore Pupille" with a singer, and every time my eye fell across the word 'faville' -


I would instantly think of Farmville*. 




*Note: the song isn't about agriculture.

Piano-Related Art

And these are all Amalia Low:

Best College Application Letter EVER

A random online discovery that made me giggle . . . .

IN ORDER FOR THE ADMISSIONS STAFF OF OUR COLLEGE TO GET TO KNOW YOU, THE APPLICANT, BETTER, WE ASK THAT YOU ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: 

   ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE HAD, OR ACCOMPLISHMENTS YOU HAVE REALIZED, THAT HAVE HELPED TO DEFINE YOU AS A PERSON?

 
    I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row.
    I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.  Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.
    I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me.
    I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply to me.
    I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid. On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prizewinning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

 
But I have not yet gone to college.

Thought for the Day

If the music is being performed wrong – and noone [else] in the room cares . . . 

Is it still wrong?

Music Directing Resources

The American Theatre Wing is a great resource on information about working in each specific discipline of theatre. I gathered together some interviews that addressed different aspects of music directing:


SDCF Masters of the Stage
Working with Dance Arrangers - 2010
Broadway choreographers and dance arrangers discuss the role of the dance arranger.

Career Guides 
The Musical Director - 2001
Ted Chapin interviews Paul Gemignani, who has received a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement for his career as musical director for over 35 Broadway musicals.

In The Wings
Interview with Music Director Carmel Dean - 2010
Carmel Dean has worked closely with William Finn and Tom Kitt.
Interview with Orchestrator Christopher Jahnke - 2010
Christopher studied with William Brohn, orchestrator for Miss Saigon and Wicked, and worked closely with David Bryan on Memphis.
Interview with Sound Designer Robert Kaplowitz - 2010
Robert is a Tony Award winning sound designer
Interview with Voice Teacher Linda Benanti - 2010

Downstage Center
Interview with John McDaniel - 2004
John was the Music Director for Brooklyn The Musical

Its fascinating stuff, check it out!!

Article Repost: Holding the banner high . . .

Holding the banner high ... and passing it on: Margo Garrett, professional accompanist. written by Jody Graves


My favorite quote is when Margo Garrett addresses the importance of educating pianists to have multiple skill sets: 

" . . . it is more precarious than ever to venture into the artistic life as a livelihood, let alone a career. I really try to get them to . . .  prepare for vocal and instrumental repertory, opera, oratorio and some organ or harpsichord and fortepiano. I want them to be as broadly educated as possible because we never know where our opportunities are going to arise. The student who thinks he/she is going to spend their life teaching chamber music and perform with their own trio, may in fact get an opportunity from an opera house, and if they don't have the skills to respond in a variety of ways the career becomes limited. I am an advocate for broadly based education because it increases the likelihood of success"

Yes.  and Yes.

Article Repost: Didn't Get That Role? Don't Blame the Piano Player

One by one,the little girls were escorted into a room at Ripley-Grier Studios, an audition and rehearsal space just over the border from the theater district. Stephen Kopel, casting director for "The People in the Picture," a Broadway musical scheduled to open in April, made the introductions: "This is Eddie. He's going to play for you."

"Where would you like me to start?" Eddie Rabin asked kindly, looking at each aspirant's sheet music. "What's the tempo?"

"Can you sing it a little louder and maybe face the table, don't face me," he suggested to one would-be star who was among the half-dozen young performers to croon "Castle on a Cloud" from "Les Miserables." "I'll play it again in maybe a different key."

"Do I look familiar to you?" he asked Alexa Niziak, a fetching 9-year-old with blond braids. "I think I've played for you before."

Really, Mr. Rabin has played for everybody. Lucie Arnaz, Kristin Chenoweth, Tovah Feldshuh, Heather Headley, Donna Murphy (star of "The People in the Picture"), Alice Ripley—and that's just for starters. He's one of the most sought-after audition pianists in the business, sometimes working as many as seven sessions a week—some lasting as long as nine hours—for theater, movie and cruise-ship casting directors. And he somehow manages to pull a rich sound out of the beat-up Steinway uprights and bland Yamahas that are so frequently his portion.

Continue at: Didn't get that Role?

Modern Music Fable #1: The Talented Shepherd

The Talented Shepherd

A fair maiden disliked seeing the village shepherd’s skinny frame, ragged clothing and lumpy skin, and avoided him whenever possible. Then one day, she walked by his house and heard music of such beauty she was enchanted. She followed the music only to discover the shepherd, hunched at a piano and eliciting gorgeous sounds with confident strength, showing a mastery and skill that struck her to her core. From then on, no longer was he beneath her attention - she fairly threw herself at him, finding herself oddly attracted to what she had first spurned.


Talent is sexy.

5 Stages of Performance Denial

The 5 Stages of Performance Denial

When confronted with a no-win performance situation, pianists often undergo five discrete mental stages*:

• Denial – “I can do this”;  “Anyone can learn a Brahms sonata in one week”
• Pleading - “I can beg someone to sub”; "Who else can do this instead of me?"
• Bribery – “I can pay outrageous amounts for someone to sub"; "I will give my life savings if..."
• Coercion – “I can blackmail someone into subbing”; “I know you’re the one who never gave Prof X’s Schubert score back”
• Acceptance - “Public humiliation is imminent”; "I can't fight it, I may as well prepare for it." 

Seriously freaked performers skip the stages and simply practice for 18 hours a day.  Be smart.  Just Say No.  

*The humiliation avoidance process is highly personal. Steps do not necessarily come in the order noted above, nor do all pianists experience all steps (although they usually experience at least two). Those working through the stages possibly should consider several hours of caffeine-fueled rehearsals or support groups.  

Piano Surreality

Vladimir Kush

Jacek Yerka

Vickie Warner

Haikus #3

Tenors get the girls

When they’re on-stage; Baritones

Get the girls backstage

Special thanks to Brevard '06 alum, Emily, Julia, Kyra and Robert

Sunday Help

In the last few years, I've found certain websites, programs and books to be invaluable to what I do on Sunday mornings.  These are a few ideas on what to think about for doing this job, and also the websites that I've found the most helpful: 

Written-out music
The sheet music I receive can run the gamut of chord charts and lead sheets, to actual written-out music.  Some examples from yesterday's service: chord chart - lead sheet.  If I want something with more notes, I've found PraiseCharts.com to be a great resource for Contemporary Christian songs. Every church adjusts the music as needed, so expect to cut and paste, repeat, or transpose as the singer or congregation requires.  If PraiseCharts doesn't have it, often MusicNotes.com does. 

Writing-out music
If all else fails, you can create your own music: the notation programs currently used a lot are Finale and Sibelius.  Its just a really handy skill to have, also, so I suggest learning at least one of them.  

Listening/researching music 
Often the written out music in the hymnal is four-part harmony, and doesn't function well as an accompaniment.  Sometimes I research a hymn to see if I can find a style I like better than my version.  Some hymns are often swung or etc, and it isn't indicated on the music.  Between Youtube.com, itunes and Amazon mp3's, I'm usually able to find what I'm looking for.  With current stuff, you really have to listen to it just to get the sound and feel right (there's not much to go on in a chart).

Matching music to text
Part of the job of the church pianist is to help make the service flow as a unified whole.  One way to do this is by choosing music that reinforces the day's scripture reading (You can look it up in the Online Bible) or the day's sermon.  I've tried looking online for either a 'scripture index to hymns', or a 'topical index to hymns' for ideas of which music to choose - but haven't had much luck (at least on the free sites).  It's best just to stick with your church's hymnal, which should have some kind of index that will help. 

Prelude/postlude solo piano music:
Mark Hayes stuff is pretty standard
Fred Bock is simple, yet pleasing (The arrangements that I like, such as On Eagles Wings, Here I am, Lord, Hymn of Promise, etc are all in this book)
Anything classical is typically fair game, especially literature everyone has heard at one point in their lives (Claire de Lune, anything by Bach, etc)
If you have a singer, art song can be used as well. Try: 
Aaron Copeland's Zion's Walls, At the River and Simple Gifts
Lee Hoiby's The Lamb and The Shepherd 



 

Tweets!

A smattering of the offerings on Twitter, under the hashtag #accompanisthaiku

Dear NATS: your rule on

'Original copies' means

I play with one hand

No, really, it's fine.

I'll just guess what those notes were

on the last system.

No need to turn and

Nod as if I'm the butler

I'll play when you breathe

I'll be singing this

Song by Jason Robert Brown

(hold soft pedal down)

Improvise while the

Soprano makes up German?

All in a day's work

The Hal Leonard version:

Just like the older versions

But with worse page turns

Paul Hindemith wrote

sonatas for everyone.

I wish he hadn't.

Why is my music

more difficult than yours is?

Damn you, soloist!

You think that you are

conducting the choir yourself.

The organist leads

Nobody panic

The measures that you just skipped

Didn't matter much

You call me at nine

with audition tomorrow -

that's seventy bucks.

Critic in Row M:

I accompanied ably.

Last sentence is done

Acknowledge me, don't

Acknowledge me, just so long

As I still get paid

When a singer falls

Off pitch, off rhythm, off beat

I just play louder.

Huh . . .

 

Not really a piano, folks, its a

"piano" . . . 

Pianist Haikus, #2

Fish swim, birds fly and
Freelance musicians gotta
Drive until they die
 . . . (my deepest apologies to Hammerstein and Kern)

Dear NATS: your rule on

'Original copies' means

I play with one hand

Standards within Standard Repertoire

Somebody asked a group of pianists who have gathered together from all over the US, "Okay, what songs have you done to death?"  Their responses: all very, very different.  That's what inspired this post . . .

Within every school of music, there is a set of vocal studios, whose teachers tend to assign a certain set of music.  Eventually, - at that school - those songs becomes '"the standard repertoire" within what's considered to be "the standard repertoire"'.  For example: while I was in undergrad, I think I played Der Nussbaum and Loveliest of Trees about a billion times (give or take).  In grad school, Caro Mio Ben won the prize for most performed piece (three students in a row one day, for juries).  When I worked in CA, I played Amarilli Mia Bella constantly.  In PA, I cursed at JRB regularly, as well as Adam Guettal. 

Contemplating this made me curious - what do other schools have as their standard rep within 'standard repertoire'?  Which schools favor Wolf over Brahms, or Bolcom over Barber?  Or on the Musical Theatre side of things, which schools choose the Golden Age of MT over something written within the last 10 years?

I'd love to come up with an interactive map of the US, showing which composers/songs are 'in vogue' at which institution.  I admit I researched the idea, and found it to be more complex than I'd like to create such a thing - and I'm pretty patient.  I'd still love to hear who has been doing what to death, however - in either the classical or musical theatre repertoire areas.  Please feel free to contribute via the comments section below. 

MS2 and such

Ragtime went well!  I was pleased with the music side of things, both pit-wise (horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba, bass, drums, flute, clarinet and two keyboards) and Mainstage2-wise (MS2 from now on). MS2 worked beautifully.

The details I had to figure out: I used a normal sustain pedal as a foot switch (since the main foot switches I've seen advertised were unnecessary for my purposes).  This discussion explains the trick to doing that on MS2:  1)in Layout mode, select the "next Patch" button and 2) in Edit mode, set your controller to just respond to 64 - 127 (so it switches one patch at a time, not two).

Sound patches on MS2 are good, but their volume levels needed to be tweaked.  The harp and accordion patches, for example, were really loud compared to the piano patch.  Rather than depend on the expression pedal to keep sound levels maintained,  I went into their specific patch channels and lowered their overall volume to a comparable level.


Next up: Once Upon a Mattress and By Jeeves

Mainstage in the Pit

Tech week (theatre code for: don't have any other plans*) completed, Ragtime goes up tonight.  With any luck, the cast won't drive the Model T into the set.

At Goodspeed's MDI I learned about the program Mainstage - and wanted to put that knowledge to use immediately - so this is the first time I'll be using Mainstage2 for a show.  All the patches are set up through the program on my laptop, its connected to a Yamaha S90 - and I switch patches with a footswitch.  Its a lot easier than patch switching with my hands, and I'm really happy with the results.  Figuring out Mainstage was mostly a time issue - I'm little better than a monkey at computers, but I got my set-up to work.  It also helped to browse Apple Support Discussions on Mainstage and watch tutorials.  

*Music Theatre Dictionary's definition of tech week:

Tech Week -noun- A hellish time in which one learns to hate the entrappings of a theatre.   

   "If belting a string of E flats doesn't kill me, tech week will."

Gaaaa

My apologies for being MIA - December was December (stupid busy), I got married Jan 8th (Vegas would have been WAAAY simpler), promptly flew back and drove to Connecticut for Goodspeed's week-long Music Direction Intensive (like drinking from a firehose).

Today was long. Sundays are not my day of rest: church, 5.5 hrs., followed by 7 hours rehearsal, mostly of the MT variety.  Today felt slightly odd going from old-time hymnal work and/or Contemporary Christian improv to Flaherty's Ragtime to a complete free-for-all of MT repertoire (Scott Alan, Avenue Q, JRB, etc).  

I find myself simultaneously hating snow and wishing it would snow.  Very strange.

Music Direction info

Arizona State University now offers a Master of Music in Music Theater Performance: Music Direction.  It seems like a cool opportunity to learn by doing.

The only other degree I've found that's similar is at Shenandoah University, which offers a Bachelor of Music in Music Theatre Accompanying.  The rest of the learning opportunities mainly take the form of 'internships', or brief workshops like the Goodspeed Opera House's Music Direction Intensive.

Another source of info:  

Peter Hilliard's blog, Music Directing the School Musical