{"id":7579,"date":"2012-05-09T12:14:22","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T19:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/?p=7579"},"modified":"2013-02-07T21:07:31","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T05:07:31","slug":"when-good-minds-go-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2012\/05\/09\/when-good-minds-go-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"when good minds go bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was reading a post<\/a> by CK Dexter Haven in his excellent blog All is Yar<\/a> about Sir Simon Rattle conducting the LA Phil last week, when I was titillated by a side comment he made about a very obvious error on the part of a principal wind player some years back. It made me think about the tightrope that is performing live in front of an audience, and how slender and elusive that rope can be on occasion.<\/p>\n

Some nights, I go on stage and I think to myself “this is going to be a rough night for me”. Sometimes that ends up being true, but more often, once the performance begins, I’m hyper aware and end up being on top of things. More often, it’s when I go onstage in a semi-blas\u00e9 state that is a real warning bell, especially if the opening work bolts right out of the starting gate.<\/p>\n

You never know what the problem is going to be. Sometimes I’ll be in a thorny section and find myself thinking about what kind of bourbons the hotel bar next store serves and then I’m totally out of sync – usually this takes place during a slow movement or a long period of rests, so it’s not too damaging. Other times, if it’s an intricate passage that involves playing off of another section (like the Copland Short Symphony<\/em> we did last week), there might be a bit of a correction that needs to be made if the other section is a bit early or late, or a bit faster or slower. The need to be “right” is a very dangerous one, because there is an objective “right” and “wrong” as compared to the score, in terms of rhythm (and pitch, etc.), but if the majority of the ensemble or the leading voice is “wrong”, then being “right” doesn’t improve the situation, it makes it much, much worse. That’s why being a good chamber musician is so important, especially in the absence of an alert and capable presence on the podium.<\/p>\n

That being said, some of the most dangerous conductors are those who don’t inspire confidence. They generally are barely in control of the music at best, and though they might not make a mistake in rehearsal, one is constantly on guard that they might bite the big one in the concert setting. I’d much rather have someone bad who I can ignore for the entire concert\u00a0(known as a LUFU: Look Up, F**k Up) than someone who is barely competent who might lull me into a false sense of complacency that will be shattered when the shit hits the fan. They make you look and then make you wish you hadn’t – d’oh!<\/p>\n

Anyway, playing in an orchestra is a lot like they describe combat: long periods of tedium punctuated by short periods of sheer terror (although I wouldn’t say ‘tedium’, I’d say ‘blithe ignorance’). And you never know when the terror will strike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was reading a post by CK Dexter Haven in his excellent blog All is Yar about Sir Simon Rattle conducting the LA Phil last week, when I was titillated by a side comment he made about a very obvious error on the part of a principal wind player some years back. It made me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":303,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[299,2],"tags":[3049,2636,3050,3663],"class_list":["post-7579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-conducting","category-the-orchestra-world","tag-all-is-yar","tag-conductors","tag-mistakes","tag-musicians","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8kC-1Yf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2936,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/08\/03\/conducting-isnt-as-easy-as-it-looks\/","url_meta":{"origin":7579,"position":0},"title":"conducting isn’t as easy as it looks","author":"Charles Noble","date":"August 3, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Violinist Ron Blessinger\/Photo: Absolute Images Violinist Ron Blessinger, who is a member of the Oregon Symphony as well as Artistic Director of the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, reports in a blog entry today about his experience at the Rose City Conducting Workshop last week.\u00a0 It's an interesting and entertaining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"p_blessinger.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/02\/p_blessinger.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13550,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2014\/09\/02\/haydn-go-seek\/","url_meta":{"origin":7579,"position":1},"title":"haydn go seek?","author":"Charles Noble","date":"September 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, that's what the great Leonard 'Lenny' Bernstein is doing here with the Vienna Philharmonic. He's employing a minimalist method of conducting - but he still\u00a0is conducting. He's using his most important conductorial attributes: his eyes and face. All the great ones do - and it's what makes for almost\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/oU0Ubs2KYUI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14427,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2016\/12\/30\/james-depreist-conducting-in-1966\/","url_meta":{"origin":7579,"position":2},"title":"James DePreist conducting in 1966","author":"Charles Noble","date":"December 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I just became aware of this video from the New York Philharmonic's Young People's Concerts. It was filmed in 1966. Leonard Bernstein introduces the conductor for Mussorgsky's\u00a0Pictures at an Exhibition - the young James DePreist (he was 30 years old at the time). It's amazing to see all the mannerisms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/dB4jM3tlXgU\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":860,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2008\/03\/17\/atlanta-re-ups-its-conducting-staff\/","url_meta":{"origin":7579,"position":3},"title":"atlanta re-ups its conducting staff","author":"Charles Noble","date":"March 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Atlanta Symphony music director Robert Spano and principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles have both had their contracts extended - Spano's through the 2013-2014 season, and Runnicles' through the 2010-2011 season. Robert Spano (photo courtesy Kirshbaum Demler & Associates ) Donald Runnicles (photo courtesy San Francisco Opera) Not much of a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Robert Spano","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/spano-andrew-eccles.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2801,"url":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/2009\/07\/02\/maazel-on-conducting\/","url_meta":{"origin":7579,"position":4},"title":"maazel on conducting","author":"Charles Noble","date":"July 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A great quote from an NPR story on Lorin Maazel and his music festival held on his 500 acre estate in Virginia, which you can hear here (and see photos from the festival). \"You don't talk; you do. 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Then I read this paragraph in Michael Hovnanian's blog - I think he's hit the nail on the head: The problem with making conductorial convulsions the source\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "conducting"","block_context":{"text":"conducting","link":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/category\/music\/conducting\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/08\/iStock_000002018724XSmall.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7579\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nobleviola.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}