tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83615204323127465772024-03-05T01:04:39.566-05:00Thoughtful Gesturesmeaning, music, and conductingAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.comBlogger71125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-90914037013270073622010-07-22T16:40:00.000-04:002010-07-22T16:40:38.391-04:00moving dayHiya. I've been working on this for a while, having gotten some feedback on problems posting comments. After looking around for a better blogging service, I've moved to
thoughtfulgestures.wordpress.com
See you there.
Thanks,
AmeliaAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-20845237586134766082010-07-22T07:44:00.002-04:002010-07-22T08:50:06.999-04:00the beast belowCocteau's Belle et la Bete was on Turner Classic Movies recently. I hadn't seen it in well over ten years, so I watched it again. So amazing, for its time and now. I also noticed how similar it is to the Disney version--set and costumes, character designs, even lighting. Some shots were lifted verbatim from Cocteau. Because if you're Disney, you use the best there isAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-77474443648156420482010-07-21T08:48:00.000-04:002010-07-21T08:48:00.392-04:00What We Wear Wednesday 6: addendumAllegra wanted a feminine tuxedo and I found one.
I would totally wear a tuxedo if I could look like that in one. Ooof, that's feminine.Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-37058948984741452482010-07-19T08:07:00.010-04:002010-07-19T08:07:00.763-04:00Multiple Intelligence Monday 7: InterpersonalInterpersonal intelligence is the capacity to sense the feelings of others and respond appropriately. Of course conductors need this. We work with people! We are the leaders of a little community, making music together as a team. The better we are at sensing people's feelings and responding in healthy and healthful ways, the better job we do. Is high interpersonal Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-54126975295155470872010-07-19T00:00:00.000-04:002010-07-19T00:00:35.224-04:00jaw on floorI sang in a choir once with the NY Phil under Lorin Maazel. Daphnis and Chloe. He was good. It was fun. He made $3.3 million his last season???
I. Had. No. Idea.
A conductor can make that much money doing something so... fun?! Wow.Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-37172417959566349532010-07-18T07:45:00.003-04:002010-07-18T15:12:31.873-04:00the choir, continuedSo, this week was the second episode of The Choir on BBCAmerica. There was some funny reality--the bass section all singing different pitches, a kid quitting and trying to act like he's cool, the astonished expression of a girl standing next to a professional soprano. Cute. Real. I liked those moments.
I'd like to mention a couple of English Oddities.
First, Gareth Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-55305642861603719512010-07-17T07:31:00.003-04:002010-07-17T07:31:00.358-04:00convenient controversy continued, and other alliterationA few weeks ago, I began a conversation about the role of a conductor in expressive leadership, and it has continued. I've been trying to sort out exactly what the difference in perspective is, and I think I've got it.
I still don't think there's any controversy. My perspective on the blog, and in the "Thoughtful Gestures" article, is of a conductor who can count on the performers toAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-70869712348104069532010-07-15T08:43:00.011-04:002010-07-15T10:18:47.621-04:00I sing the body electricI love Walt Whitman. Maybe it's the clarity and eloquence that convince me, but the content of his writing rings absolutely true to me. So I'm going to fall back on him today.
O my Body! I dare not desert the likes of you in other men and women, nor the likes of the parts of you;
I believe the likes of you are to stand or fall with the likes of the Soul, (and that they are the SoulAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-53537630946505525872010-07-14T07:34:00.024-04:002010-07-14T23:20:31.690-04:00What We Wear Wednesdays: What Women WantIn this, "What Women Want," the fifth and final installment of What We Wear Wednesdays, I'll finally be discussing the thing that I was trying to say when I started writing about the question of performance attire. How women dress in general is a major question and a huge industry. How women dress for formal occasions is even bigger.
I have already bemoaned the wedding gown as an Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-70812731842431454012010-07-12T07:37:00.011-04:002010-07-14T23:17:22.062-04:00bland ambitionI'm postponing Multiple-Intelligence Monday so I can write about this article from yesterday's Philadelphia Inquirer.
I have mentioned before that I was born and raised in Delaware, which made Philadelphia my home city. Doing my master's at Westminster just reinforced that. So I keep up with Philly things. I like David Patrick Stearns' writing and classical music criticism inAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-13063103944706818252010-07-11T12:04:00.002-04:002010-07-14T23:17:57.615-04:00the choir, begunSo, The Choir finally broadcast its first episode on BBCAmerica. I am sort of disappointed in it, and I'm gonna blog about it, as promised.
First the things I really do like: Gareth is young and enthusiastic and he genuinely and passionately believes, as I do, that community singing is good for people and should be available to everyone. His beliefs are powerful and positive Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-57628003710683489392010-07-10T14:28:00.000-04:002010-07-14T23:17:11.933-04:00expletive deletedLanguage.
I don't swear much on the blog, mostly on the off chance that someone who wants to employ me reads it--I don't want people thinking I use language carelessly on the podium. On the contrary, my use of language on the podium is very, very careful.
It began in my childhood, when our family sat around the dinner table having a grammar lesson. Yes, really. Grammar was theAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-54709904280606342112010-07-09T14:51:00.001-04:002010-07-14T23:17:50.383-04:00tai chi 2When I wrote the interest session proposal, this is the first paragraph of the session description:Conducting and Tai Chi both use energy and intention to produce gesture that is complex, beautiful, and meaningful. In master practitioners, the purposefulness of each is a result of conscious and unconscious awareness and will. Both are inexorably connected to breath. Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-864698291238961222010-07-07T08:24:00.002-04:002010-07-07T14:08:40.324-04:00What We Wear Wednesdays, 4: puttin' on my...White tie is the uniform of choice for men conductors.
Before I start ranting, I refer you to Fred Astair singing "White Tie and Tails" in Top Hat:
EDIT: embedding has been disabled since I wrote this, but do go have a look at the first couple of minutes. Totally worth it.
The outfit does good things for a man's silhouette... broad shoulders, narrow middle, long legs... Sometimes I think Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-57092396743758868242010-07-05T08:07:00.001-04:002010-07-05T08:07:00.486-04:00Multiple Intelligence Monday 6: MusicalMusical-rhythmicMusical intelligence can refer to rhythmic or pitch-related abilities, but there is no "music" center of the brain the way that language does. Music is a whole-brain function, which makes musical intelligence complicated. When you sing, for example, your brain might engage aural, verbal, and social areas.
The cooperative nature of music-making is a whole other Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-41815322547244757982010-07-03T09:16:00.000-04:002010-07-03T09:16:00.329-04:00I believe I can fly.Monday was Multiple Intelligence Monday: Kinesthetic. I would like to revisit that topic for several reasons.
To show off a bit.
To demonstrate the power of kinesthetic intelligence.
To reconnect the whole "meaning" thing in which I claim that a conductor's whole life can be about conducting.
I'm at Omega this week for a workshop in Tai Chi, about which there Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-62638512728234999352010-07-02T08:22:00.003-04:002010-07-02T08:22:00.157-04:00tai chi for conductors?Today is my last day at Omega at the Tai Chi workshop, and I'd like to take this chance to ask for some input.
I'll be running a session at the March 2011 ACDA national conference at 7 a.m. Friday morning on Tai Chi for conductors. I've been studying Tai Chi for a while and definitely think it has already helped my conducting, and think it will continue to help. But when I got the Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-75345673473197744992010-07-01T09:42:00.002-04:002010-07-01T09:42:00.537-04:00lead like a conductorI've been trying to figure out the best way to use this, and now that I've written about Resonant Leadership, I think it's probably best to do it now.
Here's the video of Italy Talgam's talk at Ted, titled "Lead like the great conductors." It's twenty minutes long, so if you haven't got that kind of time, I've transcribed some quotes that communicate the message. But do Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-21408134780107576792010-06-30T07:14:00.002-04:002010-06-30T07:14:00.488-04:00What We Wear Wednesday, 3: bridezillaBecause the nature of my work demands that I stand up in front of people, and because I ask them to open their empathic channels to my influence, I think carefully about what I wear. The result is a great deal of opinions about what conductors and people in general should wear. My wedding anniversary recently passed, and I just sang at a friend's wedding next week, so I've been Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-45467300972496367142010-06-28T08:06:00.076-04:002010-06-28T08:06:00.274-04:00Multiple Intelligence Monday 5: Bodily-KinestheticBodily-kinestheticThis is good timing. It's just a coincidence, but this week I am at Omega in Rhinebeck, NY, taking a week-long Tai Chi workshop. Because it's important for conductors to be good at understanding and moving their bodies.
As I have said before, these intelligences do not represent fixed abilities or smartness, but rather strengths particularly relating to learning Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-50929787834822646992010-06-26T06:03:00.000-04:002010-06-26T06:03:00.733-04:00Philly complaints choirJust for fun on a Saturday...
There are a lot of these complaints choirs on YouTube. This is one of the better ones because the text actually scans almost naturally, and the tune is catchy but still interesting. Also, I was born and raised in Delaware then worked and went to school in New Jersey (though I've never had Jersey license plates!), so Philadelphia is like my home city.
Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-44946855266022670802010-06-25T07:09:00.014-04:002010-06-25T07:09:00.435-04:00touchy feelyI posted last week about Singing Redefined, which asserts that intention and imagination, as the sources of expression, can and should be used as a vehicle for teaching singing. I assert that maybe imagination can be the first step in teaching conducting, because intention is what guides motion.
And yesterday I posted about Resonant Leadership, which explains that being a leader requires Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-45916174836769902222010-06-24T07:13:00.001-04:002010-06-24T07:13:00.025-04:00resonant leadershipMy sister gave me an audiobook of Resonant Leadership. It's funny that I was glad to have it as an audiobook so I didn't have to spend time sitting and reading it, feeling guilty that I wasn't doing real work, which is just the sort of thing the book says I needn't feel. Anyway, I got to listen while I did laundry and the dishes, so it felt doubly productive.
I wanted to write about Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-4817120794130072332010-06-23T08:43:00.002-04:002010-06-23T11:36:39.927-04:00What We Wear Wednesday, 2: what not to wearToday, what conductors do not wear.
Casual attire is more formal than the Twenty-first Century might lead you to believe. People regularly go out in public in workout clothes and pajamas, much to the chagrin of fashion police everywhere; but, real casual attire is what you might wear to work at an office or fancy shop if you don't wear a suit. Polo shirts and khakis are at the Amelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8361520432312746577.post-82457615162499991712010-06-22T13:28:00.000-04:002010-06-22T13:28:53.728-04:00ac-CEN-tu-ate the positiveThe sounds of words matter. Diction matters. When we sing, lots of emphasis is put on purity of vowels for good vocal production and accuracy of consonants for clarity of pronunciation. I'd like to take a moment to reflect on how we perceive diction.
My voice teacher in undergrad was a petite blonde soprano from Texas. Can you imagine the assumptions people made about herAmelia NPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14660179068154082190noreply@blogger.com0