Friday, October 12th: Cantate Domino (mm.1-53)
While this piece is pretty easy to perform, it defiantly presented some challenges for a young conductor. For things that I thought worked well for me, I knew the music very well. I feel that I acknowledged all important entrances for the voice parts and gave appropriate cues. I also feel that I lightened up my facial expressions a little more since the last time I conducted which is a good change. My leg movement seemed a little better so that I something I am still working one.
However, there were some things that I did not expect and want to happen. First off, I had an issue with communicating with the accompanist. Honestly, I didn't even think about having to talk to my accompanist so when I got up there, we were unable to communicate clearly. I will for sure have to fix that for next time. Also, I had some issues with conducting in 2. I constantly feel that I should be showing more so I added in unnecessary motions which only confused me and the ensemble. As Andrew mentioned, I need to get used to the smooth, effortless motion. It is just something I will have to get more used to. I have a question for Dr. Mehaffey and Andrew: Are there times where you can go between a four and two pattern if there is a part in the music that you need to show certain cut-offs? For example, I found mm.39-46 rather difficult to conduct in 2. I was hoping you would have some ideas to fix this. Thanks everyone!
Comments
Kate
Going back and forth between 2 and 4 is an acceptable thing to do, but you should have a good reason to do so. I do not have my music in frontof me right now, but will look at this section and tell you in class.
Smooth is a god goal, but for a piece that is syncopated like CantDom. you may find a gesture with more point to be more effective. This is a common chalenge for conductors. You might need to ask youself whle you are conducting: "Is what I'm doing helping the choir? If the answer is no, you may need to change you gesture.
Posted by: Matthew Mehaffey | October 18, 2007 5:05 PM
Kate,
I often go back and forth between 2 and 4 with music that sits on the edge of these in tempo, though I agree that there must be a good reason. The main reason is if something happens off of two or four: 2 AND or 4 AND. This is not really happening in bars 39-46 so I would encourage you to stay in 2.
Bars 5-12 present a more compelling case. Shifting to 4 here could make the move to the g feel a stronger syncopation, whereas 2 makes it swing.
I believe the word I used last Friday was "float" between the beats rather than "smooth". Smoothness negates the beat. Floating leaves the beat intact, but eliminates flourishes between the beat. See me for more clarification.
Posted by: Andrew Crow | October 19, 2007 7:13 AM