May 9 - Britten
It was abundantly clear to me that I was stuck in my head last Friday. Watching my tape, my face is buried in the score and even when I look out, my eyes are disengaged. Next week, I'd like to see more "in the moment" conducting. I think this will not only help my involvement with the singers, but also keep my tempo controlled and my rebound more relaxed. Even when Matt demonstrated the more controlled rebound, mine was substantially faster. This type of beat may work sometimes, but throughout this entire section. The faster rebound also makes the triple beats look faster than the duples.
I did try a new pattern for the "dance" part. I think there was a melding of my triples and duples the first time through where I got off. I thought it worked well the second time and people were able to follow no problem. I feel more comfortable doing this as the music is written this way. I like Matt's creativity in rearranging the barlines, but it makes the music sound different to my ear. Perhaps this is not how Britten would have wanted it. Of course, it's a great conducting exercise and a wonderful tool to have, but I think I'll stick with the page for now.
I'm very happy I had this recording to look at. It showed me that much of what I thought I was doing clearly could be improved upon.