Heather and I went to Chicago for a much needed and much deserved vacation. We visited the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum of Natural History, Millennium Park and best of all the Lego store! It was a great vacation, we had a wonderful time and made some new friends. I love Chicago, there’s so much to do. This was Heather’s first time there and I got to play tour guide. I told her I had to take her to go see the “giant silver jelly bean” in Millennium Park. We took the train from East Lansing to Chicago (so much better than driving!) and came very close to missing the train ride down, we got to the station with four minutes to spare. Once we boarded it was a nice smooth ride, four hours to relax and mark up my sketch pad a little.

The long oversized coat, the intertwining scarves, conductor’s cap, there was no doubt who the train conductor was. Some people just look so perfect for their job. I wish I could have gotten a picture. I did the next best thing, I made a quick sketch.

A random guy on our train. He was actually wearing a different hat, but at some point in the sketch it became a baseball hat.

My view of the train ride. I definitely need to work on perspective, but I’m very happy with how this sketch turned out. A passenger in the next row complimented me on it, she said she liked it and wanted to know how long I had been drawing. She draws portraits herself and has several of them hanging in local shops.

I have some more drawings from the train ride that I’ll upload soon. We took a lot of pictures while we were down there. Heather is going to upload them to her blog soon. In the meantime I have plans to use the pictures as reference material for several drawings I have planned.

Have you ever thought about why that song you listen to makes you cry/laugh/smile/think? Well, I think it’s because (and if you don’t agree with me I’m sorry) music is probably one of the most effective emotional manipulators out there. I mean think about it: how many of you have been watching an action movie and during the climatic scenes of the movie a rousing melody plays and makes you go “Hell yeah! I want them to win!”.

This sort of thing happens to me all the time. I sometimes get invested in a movie simply because of the music itself. A brilliant score can only enhance a beautiful movie or can pull a mediocre movie out of its mediocrity. If you look at a movie like X-Men the Last Stand, a movie that is not the best in my eyes (partially because the X-Men are my comic book baby as it were), but the music makes it a little more bearable.

Music to me can touch that innermost parts of ourselves that may not be accessible on a regular basis. It is the one art media that nearly everyone has a stake in to. Think about it. You might walk up to someone and ask them who their favorite novelist/painter is, and they might look back at you with a blank stare. However, if you ask them who their favorite singer/musician is, you will surely get and answer from 99% of people because music easy more easily accessed by everyone.

Music is beautiful in its own right. Whether you’re listening to a Sonata by Beethoven or a new pop ballad by Lady Gaga (who I believe is either a siren or a witch because of her damn near hypnotic affect on listeners), music is there to comfort and drive us, to help us grow and to let us cry/laugh/etc.

The Crew must admit we love the brown in this Adidas brown pack!  Here we have the latest rendition of the brand’s ZX 700 runners and Conductor Hi which make up the Brown Pack. The kicks take on a classic brown & white colorway with an interesting weave embossed feature adding a distinct element to the overall design. They are now available via select adidas Originals locations.

via Hypebeast.

These days, news sites are covered in articles listing occupations of power and influence.  It just seems to be a topic on everyone’s mind.

So naturally, I have to give my two cents:

What is the most instantly powerful and widely influential occupation in New York City?

That of the subway conductor, of course.

It’s true.  Who else has the opportunity to instantly affect masses of people either for better or for worse?  We’ve all experienced those subway conductors who hate life or those who just don’t care, but what about those playful overachiever conductors who brighten your day instantly?  They do exist.  Well, at least they do on the A train.

Every morning, my motherly subway conductor gives me a pep talk on the way to work: “Good morning ladies and gentlemen, this is your conductor speaking.  Today is Stress-Free Tuesday, Stress-Free Tuesday.  Nothing’s going to get us down today.  If you can fix it, fix it; if you can’t, let it go.  We’re going to have a great, fantastic, stress-free day.”

Just like that, she has brightened my day and assured me that everything’s going to be ok.  Suddenly, the pile of work awaiting me doesn’t seem so daunting, and everyone on the subway is smiling, making eye contact, and laughing.  A drab morning train becomes enjoyable.  Thank you, Ms. Conductor.

Or how about the late-night, seductive deep-voiced conductor who dreams of a career on Smooth-talk radio?  ”Ladies and gentlemen, this is the A train.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.  We’re gonna get you home in style.”  This guy just cracks me up.

To all of the overachiever conductors out there: Thank You.  You affect us more than you know, and you instantly brighten the days of hundreds of New Yorkers.  That is power and influence, indeed.

in delhi the bus conductors pronounce the places differently in hurry for example

• NEHRU PLACE  – NEHRU PLAY

• KHADAR – KHAD

• NOIDA – NAVEDA

• SECTOR 12-22 -BARA BAI

• NEW DELHI RLY STN – NAI DILLI

• KOTLA MUBARAKPUR – KOTLA

• SIRI FORT – SIR FOR

• VENKETESHWARA CLG – VENKY

• SRI NIWAS PURI -NIWASPURI

the green elephant

DTC – dauro tab chadho

conductor - a person sitting at the end without any tension

driver – the coolest person who repeatedly telling u not to block the rear view mirror.

low floor buse – the green elephant big n bulky but having little space to sit and stand.

auto - a vehicle having fare meter for a show off.

rikshaw – a vehicle having capacity of 2 but carrying 4 with the school bags or luggage.

metro – a carriage with ac.

bike – a vehicle which drives guys crazy permanent girlfriend of a guy.

scooty – freedom of girls.

În compartiment intrase conductorul. Avea aceeaşi privire fixă cu care băgase spaima-n noi mai devreme. Conductorul număra cu atenţie călătorii din fiecare compartiment. Făcea operaţii aritmetice cu plus şi cu minus. Lua de guler pe câte un pasager impar şi-l zvârlea afară. Sau găsea o fetişcană fără pereche şi o dirija spre un loc adecvat. Nimeni nu crâcnea. “Poate că e un om pasionat de meserie”, zise într-un târziu careva. “Treaba merge ca pe roate” ne asigurase conductorul “doar atunci când toate sunt aduse la acelaşi numitor”. Ne aranja perechi, ne potrivea hainele, ne repartiza bagajele. Ne schimba pantofii până ajungeam la acelaşi număr. Uneori întrezăream la el o părere de zâmbet care ne înviora, deşi vorbeam în şoaptă. Unii-l ajutau. Asta-i aducea o oarecare mulţumire. Ieşeau afară după el să-i mai spună, una, alta. Încetul cu încetul începusem să ne înţelegem. Ne apropiam de idealul lui. Trenul avea o viteză constantă, o încărcătură echilibrată, o structură armonios planificată. Fluieratul glorios al locomotivei ne era marş şi cântec de leagăn. De când conductorul deşurubase becurile dormeam ca puii. Poate că îi vor trebui la alt tren, ne gândeam. “Călătoria noastră devine tot mai lungă” ne şoptise un tinerel nou adus, după ce trecuse prin faţa trenului şi văzuse ceva. Conductorul găsea noi şi noi nereguli pe care le-ndrepta din mers. Nu era om rău: din când în când ne lăsa să tăiem câte o bucăţică din vinilinul banchetei.

I was working on the extra board as an Amtrak conductor out of Carbondale, Illinois, in 2004 and 2005. My scheduled day off was at mid-week, which usually meant that I had until Saturday or Sunday before I would get called out on a run.

There was one minor drawback to this schedule: our paychecks came by train Thursday evening on “The Illini” from Chicago. This meant that either I would have to wait to get mine the next time I worked or I would have to make a special trip down to the Carbondale Amtrak station. One evening a solution to this minor dilemma came to me: have the conductor toss my check off the train. I was living in Elkville, after all, and the train passed a block and a half from my house. This became a fairly standard operation.

Most Thursday evenings would find me sitting at home, either reading or watching television. The conductor on “The Illini” at the time was a fellow named T.T. Pleasants; a jovial man I had known since about the time he first came to work out of Carbondale in 1988. He had darn near watched me grow up.

About the time the train was due to leave Centralia, I would give T.T. a call on the cell phone.

“Howdy, T.T.”

“Hey Kid!”

T.T. called just about everyone kid.

“You want to do the Elkville check chuck?”

“Why, certainly.”

After enquiring as to the train’s state of tardiness, I would get back to whatever I happened to be doing.

On top of the refrigerator in the kitchen, I had a scanner tuned into the railroad’s radio frequency. Two miles north of Elkville in the little town of Dowell was a hotbox detector, and I would keep an ear open for its announcement that “The Illini’s” arrival was imminent.

“I. C. railroad, equipment defect detector. Mile 2-9-3 point 5.”

I would jump up and head out the door, grabbing my bicycle and heading trackside. As I did, I could hear the locomotive blowing its horn for the crossing just north of town. As I wheeled into the parking lot alongside the track, the crossing gates at both of the Elkville crossings would be coming to life. The loud blaring of the horn would accompany the blinding headlights as the train popped out of the trees to the north, and the engine would flash past. Four cars to the rear, a green light would fly out of the top half of the Dutch doors; T.T. always wrapped my check around a light stick, which was a much appreciated aid to finding the check in the train’s wake.

As the train faded into the distance, I grabbed my check and stuffed it in my pocket. A minute later I would be back at my apartment, and doing whatever I had happened to be doing a few minutes before.

Another edition of the Elkville Check Chuck was in the books.

The Board Street crossing in Elkville, Illinois, at sunset.

———-

Copyright 2010 – Mary Rae McPherson

 
Conductor by Paul Helm

 
Maxim by Miriam Schulman

 
Abstract Cellos by Marcia Baldwin

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via: nicekicks

Constant Lambert

Constant Lambert was born on August 23, 1905 and died on August 21, 1951 in London.

English composer, conductor, and critic who played a leading part in extablishing the ballet as an art form in England.  Commissioned (1926) by Diaghilev to compose the ballet Romeo and Juliet, he became conductor (1929) of the Camargo Society that led to the creation of the Sadler’s Wells Ballet, which he then directed until 1947.  His works include the ballet Horoscope (first produced 1938) and the song cycle Eight Chinese Songs (composed 1926).  A perspicacious critic, his Music Ho! A study of Music in Decline (1934) is an illuminating study of 20^th-century music.

Photo courtesy:  fds.oup

In order for an ensemble to come in together, it is essential that the conductor provide a clear preparatory, or opening, beat that establishes the tempo of the music. In order for an ensemble to play with the dynamic and emotional quality of the music, the preparatory beat music convey the expression of the music as well. If it is indeed true that music starts with silence, the preparatory beat is its gesture, simultaneously containing the articulation, dynamic, quality, character, and emotion of the first impact of sound.

You have already learned about how to conduct preparatory beats when you studied the patterns for conducting in 2, 3, and 4; they are the gestural tissue that connect one beat to another (movement after the instant of 1, 2, 3, and 4). Therefore, you prepare beat 1 (a downbeat) from the right, beat two from the right in a 4 pattern, from the left in a 3 pattern, and from above in a 2 pattern. Beat 4 is always prepared with a beat 3. In other words, a general rule-of-thumb for preparatory beats is that music is prepared with the previous beat of the pattern.

Practice preparing each beat within each pattern. An effective way of accomplishing this is to begin by beating a pattern at a certain tempo while counting out loud. After a period of time, stop beating time but continue to count in your head (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4). After a while, begin counting out loud again while beating time. Change where you choose to start counting out loud each time (do not pick beat 4 all of the time!) This count (and gesture) will serve as the preparatory beat for the following beat. So, for example, if you decide to begin counting out loud again on beat 2 in 4/4 time, what you are in essence doing is preparing beat 3. Beat 3 prepares beat 4, beat 4 beat 1, beat 1 beat 2, and so on.

Preparatory beats are the gestural tissue that connect one beat to another

This exercise will aid you in keeping your preparatory beats in time. It is essential that preparatory beats be delivered in the tempo of the music or musicians will play at the incorrect tempo. Furthermore, preparatory beats should always be delivered in the style of the music. If the first note is loud, the preparatory beat should be large, quiet-soft. Articulation, mood, and character of the opening beat should all be conveyed within the preparatory beat.

In no instance should the preparatory beat be larger, or have more impetus, than the beat it is meant to prepare. In fact, occasionally the preparatory beat might simply be a drop of the hand or flick of the wrist. You would use such a gesture when an ensemble must begin by playing off a strong beat (a syncopation.) In such an instance, a large preparatory gesture on the downbeat would inevitably lead some players to play the syncopation on the downbeat. If, however, the hand is kept very still with just a flick of the wrist or drop of the hand on the downbeat, the players will be inclined to play immediately following that gesture. Elizabeth Green refers to this gesture in her conducting text The Modern Conductor as a “gesture of syncopation.”

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“Music is the space between the notes” – Claude Debussy

Debussy once said that music is the space between the notes. In staccato gestures, the space between the notes is often silence and involves preparing for the next audible instance of sound. In legato passages, however, notes are often combined to form long, lyrical phrases. In these instances, the gestures become more about conveying, or showing, the quality of sound between each note, rather than the individual notes themselves. A flick of the wrist works well for conveying a passage that is staccato in nature, but such a small, minimal (and often jolting) movement does not effectively convey legato. In legato musical passages there are no sudden movements. Everything must be smooth and connected.

Like staccato gestures, there are endless possibilities. Not all legato looks the same. Successful legato is all about resistance and intensity. The energy should be concentrated to show the clear impact of each beat, while filling the space between each beat (baton click) with a weight and character particular to the music.

Different intensities can be conveyed by varying what parts of your arm you use and how you choose to move your arm through your field of motion. You may use only the wrist, the wrist and the forearm, the wrist, forearm, and elbow, or the wrist, forearm, elbow, and upper arm. But this, alone, does not create different intensities, only the amount of space available for your gesture. Practice beating using varying lengths of your arm. Then practice beating with different lengths of your arm as if moving through different mediums. How would you move as if you were in space with no resistance? Through air with minimal resistance? Through sand? Water? Cement?

A number of musical factors contribute to intensity, from dynamics to orchestration, harmonic rhythm, tempo, melodic contour, and even placement of a musical passage within its larger context. Furthermore the intensity of a passage can change. If you can effectively change the intensity of your pattern with either size of beat or resistance, you will be able to show melodic phrasing.

Legato gestures can also be used to give cues with the left or right hand. In these instances, the gesture is a snippet (“excerpt”) of the pattern. Most often the palm should be face up. It can enter from any point in your field of motion as long as it is clear where the performer should enter and with what quality of sound.

Think of various legato examples in music. Identify different gestures you can use to convey the different kinds of legato in each example.

Examples of Legato in Symphonic Literature

Brahms, Symphony No. 2, First Movement, Second Theme

Borodin, Polovtsian Dances, “Stranger in Paradise”

Hanson, Symphony No. 2, First Movement, Introduction

Elgar, Enigma Variations, “W.N.”
]]> http://rachellwaddell.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/conveying-a-staccato-interpretation/ Sun, 03 Jan 2010 07:45:10 +0000 Rachel http://rachellwaddell.wordpress.com/2010/01/03/conveying-a-staccato-interpretation/

The literal translation of staccato in Italian is detached. How do we recognize staccato in music? What is it we’re looking for and what, exactly, are we looking to be detached? And how should our gestures convey a “detached” concept?

Traditionally, staccato refers to articulation, normally represented by a small dot above or below the note. However, what if there are rests between each note, for example in 4/4 time, sixteenth notes on beats 1, 2, 3, and 4 with dotted eighth rests between them? Or, conversely, what if there are dotted-eighth rests on beats 1, 2, 3, and 4 with sixteenth notes on the “a” of each beat? Is this staccato? Furthermore, what if the harmonic rhythm is short (changes quickly)? Can, or should, this justify using a staccato gesture? Even if we are fortunate enough to see a musical passage clearly labeled “staccato,” is it always evidently clear what the term refers to?

More often than not, we can internalize what staccato means. We hear a piece and thank that it is, or is not, staccato. It can mean short, light, sharp, quickly moving, separated, or detached. Despite literally hundreds of possible interpretations of the term, most conducting texts offer only two ways of conveying a staccato feel: a light, smaller staccato and a heavier, large staccato. Yet, is it not possible that a small staccato gesture may, at times, need to be heavy, just as a large staccato gesture may, at times, need to be light?

Think of musical examples that embody some kind of staccato gesture, either rhythmically (articulation), harmonically (quick harmonic change) or intensity (weight of the beat, expression conveyed within time/tempo). Try to think of at least five different uses of staccato in music. What are gestures you can use to express each different kind of staccato? For now, don’t be concerned with a pattern, focus instead on creating an instantaneous generation of sound. How can you use your hands to convey a sharp staccato? A light staccato? A heavy staccato? A slightly separated staccato? It should also be noted that conceptions of staccato, and note lengths in general, have changed significantly throughout history, for example the length of Beethoven’s quarter notes versus, say, Mahlers’. If you are concerned with an accurate performance practice, some preparatory music research might have to be incorporated into score study when choosing a staccato length and, therefore, gesture.

Examples of various staccatos in symphonic literature:

Grieg, “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” Peer Gynt Suite

Beethoven, Symphony No. 6, First and Third Movements

Haydn, Symphony No. 86, Third Movement

The gestures that you’ve identified can be conveyed in either hand, either with the left to show a cue, or the right to convey a stylistic pattern. Keep in mind that because staccato normally implies a brevity of action, it is important that your gestures be quick and sharp, with a lot of energy applied to the tip of the baton or fingertips. To achieve this, the best analogy to draw is to think of cracking a whip. If the full arm is used and kept locked, the whip cannot require the energy it needs to crack and will just wave up and down loosely. If, however, the elbow remains bent and unlocked, allowing for a quick flick of the wrist, all of the arm’s energy will transfer to the tip of the whip, giving it enough propulsion and energy to generate a crack. Therefore these gestures, regardless of their individual weight or length, are best accomplished primarily with the wrist, and perhaps some forearm movement.

Practice flicking your wrist. Now flick your wrist within the context of a specific pattern. Once you have this movement down, incorporate the gestures from the musical examples you chose. You should now be able to successfully convey a variety of staccato patterns and have broadened your conception of staccato in general.

Conductors sculpt air. The artistic canvas they start with is therefore nothing. There are literally an infinite number of boundaries and planes that a conductor can use: horizontal (left to right), vertical (up an down), sagittal (front and back), diagonal, and any combination of the above. A conductor’s canvas is literally anywhere his or her arms can reach. That being said, there are clearly places you would not conduct from, such as behind you, where the orchestra cannot see your motions, or similarly with conducting too high, low, or on the side of your body where visual contact would also be obscured.

A conductor’s greatest tool is his or her expression, not just in their face but posture, weight of gestures, and breath. Therefore, it is important not to distract from these most natural, expressive, and organic movements. Explore your own field of motion. Relax and loosely swing your arms from side to side and up and down, creating a sphere around your body. Stand on your toes and reach as high as you can. Bend your knees and move close to the ground. It is important to get a sense of how much actual, spherical space there is around you. You are constantly moving within this sphere, but will not use all of it all of the time, in much the same way that a painter would not use all of the colors of his or her pallet, or an actor all the dynamic capabilities of their voice, at once.

The body is symmetrical and, therefore, your middle point of your canvas should be in the center of your body, generally up a little higher, towards your face, depending on your height. Note that this requires your arm to be slightly outstretched. This is important as moving from the elbow tucked at your side is not very commanding. The gesture should feel comfortable, not stiff. Relax and make sure there is no tension in the wrist, elbow, or shoulder. It should feel as though you simply let your arm hang at your side and moved the wrist loosely to the center of your body.

Gestures should be symmetrical from your center point. In general, the larger the gesture the louder the orchestra will play, the smaller the more quiet. It is therefore important to have a gesture that is neutral. The size of your own neutral gesture will depend on the size of your own field of motion.

This is why it is essential to be familiar with the amount of space you can comfortably reach around you.

Ideally your neutral pattern and gestures should be halfway between the size of your largest and smallest possible comfortable gestures.

The neutral pattern can serve as the blank canvas for rhythmic gestures or beating time. Once you’ve discovered a comfortable size for your own neutral pattern, practice beating in 2, 3, and 4.

Beating in 2 (time signatures:2/4, 2/2, fast 4/4, 6/8, etc.) is achieved simply by beating up and down horizontally. In order to return back up smoothly, you will have to go slightly outward to the right after completing the second beat before coming back to the left and up to return to beat 1.

To beat in 3 (time signatures: 3/4, 3/8, 9/8, 3/2, etc.) you will move down, right, and up like a right triangle. In order to successfully move to beat 2, you will have to move slightly to the left after completing beat 1 and a little further to the right after completing beat 2 before coming back to the left and returning up to beat 1.

Beating in 4 (time signatures: 4/4, 12/8, slow 2/4, etc.) looks like a cross. The move to the second beat is much like beating in 2, except that you will complete the second beat by moving left horizontally across the body, than moving right across the body horizontally for beat 2 and up for beat 4.

In achieving a neutral pattern, it is essential to keep every gesture as smooth as possible with no hitches. Practice each of the above patterns as if you were painting on a wall and wanted to create smooth, continuous lines. In order to achieve this, the wrist must be kept loose and flexible, palm horizontal to the ground, with the fingers naturally pointed down. All of the weight of the hand should fall towards the fingers, creating a concentrated point to draw the line. To make an analogy, if you were painting a thin line, you would not want to spread all the bristles across a canvas, just a thin, pointed tip. Similarly, all the energy of the motion should be concentrated at the tip of the fingers (or baton). Concentrate and place the energy there mentally and you will feel it.

Much like changing your use of space around you, you can change how much weight and resistance (intensity) you apply to this point. For a neutral pattern, you want some resistance, but not too much.

Most conducting text books describe neutral patterns as emotionless, non-biased patterns. How is this possible? With the exception of perhaps early classical music, nearly all music begins with some sort of expressive or temporal marking. Furthermore, any gesture given without intention is meaningless and therefore pointless. Variations and gradation of the neutral pattern will, however, be helpful for long slurred passages, for example, where a certain smoothness and uniformity of articulation and/or contour seems desirable. Even then, the neutrality of the pattern should be tinged with the emotional “impurity” of a left or right hand gesture showing phrasing, or by breath or facial expression.

In actuality, the real neutral gesture is nothing, making no movement whatsoever within your field of motion and spherical space. Every gesture should have meaning, character and weight unique to the music it is meant to convey. Furthermore, it is possible not to conduct a pattern at all, using only the left hand and still convey a “neutral feel.”

Think about the music you have performed or are otherwise familiar with. What musical examples can you think of that are relatively neutral? (Neutrally articulated? Neutrally dynamic? etc.) Practice your neutral pattern with each of these examples, varying slightly in character, expression, and weight depending on the individual piece. Also practice doing neutral gestures, outside a pattern, in the left hand. Alternate between them.

Examples of “Neutral” Moments in Orchestral Literature:

Dvorak, Symphony No. 9, Second Movement, English Horn Solo

Beethoven, Symphony No. 1, First Movement, Introduction

Any poet, if he is to survive beyond his 25th year, must alter; he must seek new literary influences; he will have different emotions to express.
-T. S. Eliot

It is apparently widely accepted that young conductors wishing to study conducting must do so by themselves-even if they are fortunate enough to have a teacher. It is extremely important for a conductor, or any musician for that matter, to develop his or her own personal style, but they cannot do so in a vacuum. Conducting technique is a tool, a means to an end, of creating a dialog between framework (the score, itself, and the conductor) and interpreter (the orchestra). Conducting technique, like any technique, naturally develops over time to suit the needs of the ensemble and the aesthetic desires of the society of the time. Yet the most influential conducting textbooks, still widely used in schools today, primarily stem from the 50’s-70’s. If orchestras, and their role in society, have changed since then-as they indeed have-why have the tools to communicate with them (conducting technique) chiefly stayed the same?

In short, this text seeks to provide a means for young conductors to develop their technique and own, personal unique style. Conducting is about expression, a framework for interpretation, and this is the focus of this text. Every conductor, and millions of metronomes, can keep time, but this is neither inspirational nor the purpose of a conductor in much the same way that CEO’s would not make any interesting innovations in their companies if they insisted on keeping operations “by the book,” as they have always been done before.

The modern conductor must play the part of CEO in their orchestra now more than ever. He or she must manage finances, market themselves and programming to others and even their own ensemble; they must be creative, innovative, and original. Their technique must be so embedded in their personal style that it is invisible.

I am becoming disillusioned that any textbooks offer an overhaul on the modern conductor’s role. I hope this text can aid in creating a generation of conductors, each with his or her own personal style and each with something unique to offer the orchestras they belong to.

Last night I watched the documentary “Reaching for the Note” totally mesmerized throughout and tear-stained at the end.  If you have a passion about any of the following things: music, life, peace or even a passion for passion and a zest for life I highly recommend owning this DVD. 

Lenny became a musical icon and was one of the first to break the barriers between the intellectual elite who often saw classical music as “theirs” and infected those from all walks of life with a passion for it; showing them it wasn’t actually so inaccessible and stuffy after all and that it belonged to everyone.  Leaders in prominent positions (whether they are U.S. Presidents or conductors) often “enjoy” an onslaught of criticism and suspicion.  The staid classical critics liked to dismiss Lenny as a showman that turned classical music into a circus.  But those musicians who worked with him and were close to him knew that he really and truly was just so deeply affected by music.  He wasn’t faking anything, just exuberant and effusive about his love.  Other critics liked to try to pigeon-hole him into a theater only box, or the conductor box. 

Below Beethoven’s Ode to Joy (which he changed to “Ode to Freedom”) at the historical concert celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall.

True, he was a great iconic conductor, and true he brought something new with West Side Story, but he was a talented composer in his own right.  As many perfectionists who will die for their art, none of that was enough.  He wanted to be taken more seriously in the areas he wasn’t, and as one former violinist of the New York Phil surmised, “He may have wanted to be Mahler #2.” 

Regardless of any human weaknesses, or where he felt his legacy fell short he was loved by New Yorkers, by Americans as the first famous, iconic classical conductor grown domestically and by the world for using musical gifts as an extension of the olive branch to penetrate walls, rather than erect them.

I didn’t know quite what to expect when my belle and I attended Too Hot to Handel recently. We were in for an unforgettable experience!

The piece was conceived and conducted by the Colorado Symphony Orchestra’s conductor laureate, Marin Alsop. It’s a brilliant interpretation of Handel’s Messiah as a blend of classical, gospel, and jazz.

Woodwinds give way to a piano, organ, and electric guitar. The violins sit to Ms. Alsop’s left, a contingent of saxophones wait behind the organ, to her right sits the brass section, and to her far right lie the violas and cellos. Before her sit three vocalists: a soprano, an alto, and a tenor. And, being Handel’s Messiah, behind the orchestra is a full choir.

Ms. Alsop clearly enjoys this piece tremendously, and it shows with her almost conspiratorial relationship with the audience. She is obviously in full control of the ensemble, but she makes it look a scene in a movie where an actor imagines beautiful music and in the background, musicians furiously work to make her whims come alive. Ms. Alsop, you are truly a joy to watch.

Even though the subtitle of the work is “A Gospel Messiah”, the music struck me as jazz. The melodious scatting of the tenor Thomas Young contributed, I’m sure, as did the amazing sax, piano and drum solos.
The choir did a fine job augmenting the orchestra. And let there be no doubt that the mezzo-soprano Vaneese Thomas and the soprano Cynthia Renée Saffron brought gospel to Boettcher Concert Hall that night!

Perhaps my only regret is that the balance was off in places, where it seemed that the choir drowned out the tenor more than they should have. I also found seemingly random arrangement of their choir robe styles distracting at times.

Truly, we were transfixed throughout the whole performance. I would heartily recommend this concert to anyone with an interest in Handel’s Messiah or new interpretations of classical works!

The 2009 Messiah Side-By-Side Sing-Along last Friday was a brilliant blend of singing and music, color and warmth. With 50 high school students joining ProMusica on stage, 10 guest conductors from the community, and over 160 area choral participants, the Southern Theatre was filled with holiday music, smiles and laughter.

Amy Blosser, director of Bexley High School Choral program, conducting one of the Messiah choruses.

The guest conductors line up for a final bow!

There are some photos posted here, but more will be posted on the ProMusica Facebook page this week.

ALSO! ALL Participants are invited and encouraged to fill out a short, anonymous online survey. Various surveys for various people.

Please click on one of these links:

Directors Survey

Choral Participant Survey

Orchestra Participant Survey

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Best wishes for a new year! There is MUCH to come in 2010!

-Julia

this post is part of a series, beginning with ‘Part 1: general Lightworks tips’

Today I started learning about all of the millions of materials settings that are possible with Lightworks. When you change the settings for a material in Archicad, you can preview the changes in the internal engine or in Lightworks. One thing I did not realize prior to my tutorials is that if you change all the settings in Lightworks to what you want, they are not automatically update in in the internal engine preview – you must ‘match with internal settings’. This could be outdated information, as the tutorials reference Archicad 10 and I am using 12. However, I will need to check on it.

other interesting general info about Lightworks materials settings:

1. there are 6 classes, each with its own set of shaders – each of those with its own set of parameters.
2. you can load new sets of archives, several of which are available on the Lightworks website.
3. it’s best to create a new layer with a simple slab, wall, and beam to test your materials settings. otherwise, your render time will keep to you there all week. remember to keep the Lightworks lights layer on, though, as the lighting has a huge effect on your materials.
4. it also helps to set the background and foreground to ‘none’ while you are testing materials, so that you are not thrown off.

Now, I’ll run through the different materials classes and some of the tips I picked up.

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MATERIALS | COLOR CLASS

The first ‘class’ whose settings you can edit in the materials edit window of Archicad, is the color class. This class basically defines the light that is used by the material. There were a few things I learned that I was unaware of, and I’ll briefly list those below:

wrapped image

• It’s best to keep the softness to 1.00 for quality versus render time
• Understanding the aspect ratio is key in getting your material to show the wrapped image in the way you want. The key is understanding that

aspect ratio = width/height.

• AND the scale of the width increases in accordance with the aspect ratio. The scale of the height, however, changes at a rate of 1 meter per 1 unit.

wrapped filtered image

This is similar to a wrapped image, but you can mix in a color to your image.

graphisoft masked image

This is an interesting option that allows you to mask part of an image over another one. For example, you could mask an image of ivy over an image of a brick wall. Just remember that the darker the mask, the more the pixels will be replaced in the base image.

procedural shaders

These are very powerful and flexible shaders, and will probably form the bulk of what I render. They are computed to generate a random pattern as opposed to tiling, like a wrapped image. Some of the benefits are:

• As mentioned before, because it’s a pattern that is generated randomly there are no seems or junctions.
• Because they are not based on an image, they can be faster and easier to load on a larger scale.
• The options are endless, and you can change many parameters to meet almost any kind of material.
• Sometimes you can find that using a shader intended for one type of material may actually work quite well as something different (for example a marble shader used as water).
• There are also a few procedural shaders that are also wrapped, such as brick. These may give you some problems on complex shapes, but make a faster render than using wrapped images.

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MATERIALS | REFLECTANCE CLASS

The reflectance class defines the reflection and refraction of a material, letting you set how much of the color class shows through. Here’s a few tips I picked up about the shaders in this class:

matte

• Use this shader on a basic shape to first get all of your lighting correct. The light has a particularly large impact on this part of the materials editing.
• The diffuse parameter defines how much of the chosen color shader is visible.
• The ambient parameter does not correspond to anything in reality – it only brightens or darken the material. Avoid it if possible.

glass

• The specular parameter defines the sharpness of the overexposed area.
• The transmission parameter adjust the see-through-ness (the technical term).
• Tip: the values of the  transmission and mirror parameters should always add up to 1.

mirror

• Make sure your chosen color is black to make the effect of a mirror.
• Lower the roughness parameter and increase the mirror parameter.

conductor

• This is one of the most advanced shaders and can give an excellent range of metals.
• Any materials using this shader will take a very long time to render.
• The refraction and absorption parameters are chemical values of different types of metals.

metal

• Make sure to reduce the roughness to get a more metallic look.

phong

• Great for use on materials that need to look ceramic.
• This is a more versatile shader because it has a specular color parameter, which can help add interest to a shiny surface.

multilayer paint

• This is another very powerful shader, similar to conductor, that requires a lot of render time but can give some beautiful metal materials.
• There are three layers of parameters: lacquer, metalic, and base.
  

plastic

• Great for shiny or highly polished surfaces

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MATERIALS | TRANSPARENCY CLASS

This class affects the transparency and translucency of a material, but is very very computer intensive and will eat up a lot of rendering time. It can be used to make complex objects such as mesh and trees, but should be used sparingly in a project. Here’s my notes on the shaders in this class:

plain coverage

• This would be great to use to make drapes or curtains from a thin curvey wall.
• Lower the transparency to see the sunlight through the curtains a bit.
• Select a textile image as the color shader to make a patterned cloth curtain.

eroded

• This would be a good shader to use for trimmed hedges, using the basic shapes available in the library.
• Change the coverage percentage to gain the effect of leaves over a grass color shader.
• Duplicate and adjust slightly to create some depth and another layer of leaves.

plain

• This a good alternative to using a reflecting material in some cases, as it renders a little faster.
• White corresponds with opaque and black corresponds with transparent.

wrapped grid

• This makes for a fantastic mesh or fencing material, used on a very thin wall.
• Change the color shader to wrapped grid as well for more depth.

wrapped image

• You could use this to give the effect of something printed on the glass of a store window, for example.
• To ensure consistent opacity of the image, create a second image with just gray on white to layer behind it.

wrapped mask

• This is very similar to the one above, except the shadow that is created doesn’t pick up the colors of the image… it stays gray.
• In this shader, for consistency of opacity create a duplicate image with gray on black to layer behind it.

A keyboardist/producer/vocalist, Dexter Wansel was a major force in the explosion of the Philadelphia sound during the ’70s and’80s. He formed his first groups with Stanley Clarke during highschool. Wansel signed a solo deal with Philadelphia International Records in 1976 and the company issued his debut LP “Life on Mars”. The title cut was a favorite on the fusion circuit. Wansel recorded other LPs in the same style during the late ’70s. He is recognized for his impact as a writer, producer, conductor and arranger. He worked closely with M.F.S.B, and their 1980 release ” Mysteries of the World”. Wansel worked with a variety of recording legends as a writer and/or producer. Such artists as Patti Labelle, Teddy Pendergrass, Billy Paul, Jerry Butler, The Stylistics, Jean Carne, Stevie Wonder, The Jacksons , and the late Phyllis Hyman and Grover Washington Jr. His music has influenced and been used by more recent artist such as Jay-Z, The Lox, Jamiroquai, Incognito,! Junior, Loose Ends and many others.

Life on Mars

The Sweetest Pain

Here is a new group Biblio who sampled “the sweetest pain” to get something special of their own goin!
Bibio – Lovers’ Carvings (Leatherette remix)