Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Book Review: "The Wind Band" by Richard Franko Goldman

"The Wind Band: It's Literature and Technique" by Richard Franko Goldman. Published by Allyn an Bacon, INC. Boston, 1961


The front page
In my study for the literature of my medium, "The Wind Band" was a text I was instructed to pick up from the library. I'll be honest it took me far too long to complete the 270 pages of this volume by R Goldman (who is the son of bandmaster Edwin Franko Goldman). I enjoyed it more as I read, but it's not something that gripped me from page one.
The book is divided into four parts; "The band as a Musical Insitution", "Technical Problems of the Band", "The Repertoire of the Band", and "Improving the Band". This includes a few chapter under each part, totalling ten in all.

The first 100 pages or so focus on the military band movement and such leader/composers as John Philip Sousa, Edwin Franko Goldman, and Patrick Gilmore. While this is certainly of interest, it was not something that was really touched on by my teacher this past term. This is alarming because we were covering the 1500's through 1909 in Wind Band History and Literature. The "heyday" of the march was 1829-early 1900's. A curious point I will be sure to bring up as classes resume.

Of course the book is outdated in some areas. Chapter 4 talks of "contemporary bands" but this was as of 1961 so there have been some changes. Fennell and the Symphonic Wind Ensemble is discussed by page 140, but this is where the trail ends for modern band.

One of the most interesting aspects of the book were the many lists of programs and instrumentations of various groups. As I program works that were written from earlier periods in our history, the size of ensembles that were playing at the time of composition is useful knowledge.

Part 3, which focuses on the repertoire of the band was the most helpful in terms of my study. I wish I would've skipped ahead and read chapter 8 first. This section has information that is relevant today and valuable in the study of transcriptions vs. original works for the wind band. It seems that an explosion of our "core rep" happened during this time. I am finding Edwin Franko Goldman and Frank Battisti are largely responsible for this fact.

The last part, reads kind of as an after-thought on practical problems of the band. I wish more of the book would've been written on the history of wind works before 1760(especially since I was trying to find info on that anyway) instead of tacking on this small section on teaching and conducting. There are many fine texts written on those subjects.

As someone who is so driven by technology this statement in chapter nine amused me. "The band has tuning devices, tape-recorders, and all manner of equipment that would've been unbelieveable only a short time ago. All this is well and good, provided that it does not become an end in itself, and that all of the equipment is put to some profitable use. It might, on occasion, simply be recalled that band and other musical organizatios did manage to exist, and fairly well, before all of these things appeared on the scene." I wonder what Goldman would have to say to us today(he passed in 1980).

The text does include a nice index, which I'm sure will come in handy when I go to check it out from library again to take a more in depth look at it. For now a once over must be enough as I try to get through at least one more book before break is over. It's an important read, but I don't think it had any information that can't be found in another text. I found the language to be a little stodgy(which accounts for my struggles diving in to the book).

It'll probably sit on my IKEA bookshelves someday, but on the "Grad Assistant getting Married" budget, it's not something I'll run out an buy, especially since it's out of print. I imagine the Dunbar Library will check it out to me a couple of times before I'm done here.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Book Review: Conducting Technique for Beginners and Professionals

"Conducting Technique For Beginners and Professionals" 3rd Edition - By Brock McElheran, Forward by Lukas Ross. Published by Oxford University Press 2004 198 Madison Ave New York, NY 10016
The Little Green Book

 When I began graduate conducting studies I was told to buy one book, the aforementioned one. This is probably the smallest, yet most useful textbook I have ever purchased. It applies across specialities(wind, choral, and orchestral) and is a fun read. Yep, I said it a fun textbook. I also found out that, without discussing it, both the Director of Bands and the Director of Choirs at Wright State both use this book for undergraduate conducting.

Professor McElheran

McElheran(1918-2008) was the Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at the Crane School of Music, SUNY-Potsdam. He retired in 1988 and the last published version of this book was reviewed four years prior to his passing at age 90. His witty insights well live on in this text. I'm so glad Dr. Booth gave it to me.

The book is broken down into 27 short, easy to digest chapters, over the course of 129 pages. Chapter progression is designed for a quick overview of conducting technique and other problems. Each short chapter, seemingly averaging around 5 pages, ends with "assignments" for beginners and professionals. The questions are thoughtful and really should be done by everyone, whether you consider yourself a green beginner, seasoned professional, or someone in between. Everyone has something they can tweak from the book.

I grabbed my highlighter and a pencil and went to work marking things that I want to be able to find quickly. I think I will need to read other texts and explore options before I'm done with study, but I will try to hold myself to at least going through and reading my highlighted portions once a term.

The book also has great diagrammed beat patterns.  It's really a conducting survival guide that could be read in a few short sessions. If you're serious about being an effective conductor, this needs to be on your desk.

I'll leave you with a few of my highlighted passages all are the words of McElheran.
On the most important requirement of a conductor: "Make the performers want to do their best."

"Conducting technique must be studied and practised, during the entire career of the conductor."

Baton Fact: "A baton magnifies any hand quiver to a conspicuous degree."

"Beat is a moment of time, a split second infinitesimally small, like a point in geometry. It is NOT a duration."

"Remember that you must show the performers what to do before they do it."

"Every musician, instrumental of vocal, should count every rest his entire life."

"A conductor who cannot follow is almost as weak as one who cannot lead."

"Stokowski keeps a large colored pencil handy and writes warnings to himself in large letters." (Note: no one is every magically able to remember everything. Write it down, if the masters do, we all should.)

"Be sure that everything you do has a purpose, and that it has a specific effect on the music. Otherwise eliminate it. Guard against extra loops and waggles which are not called for in the music."

"The best way to become distinctive is to develop a conducting technique which is clear and totally subservient to the music. This will mark you as a rarity among conductors."

"A start must look like a start. Anything before a start must not look like a start."

"You must constantly remind yourself to listen. A well-known corporation hangs a sing saying THINK in all its offices. Our slogan must be LISTEN."

"Performances are never perfect." and followed by "Music is for enjoyment."

"I am merely the builder who follows the composer's blueprints in re-creating this masterpiece."

"It is the ability to listen, think fast, and communicate with hands, arms, and face that marks the good concert conductor, as contrasted to the good musicians who can train performers. He combines artistry, knowledge, and sensitivity with speed of thought and action to re-create the music every time he conducts."

"Two mottos should be on every conductor's mind and wall: "WORRY EARLY and ONE PERCENT OF CONDUCTING IS CONDUCTING."

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Book Review: The 20th Century American Wind Band/Ensemble

The 20th Century American Wind Band/Ensemble: History, Development, and Literature - by Frank Battisti Published by Meredith Music, First Edition 1995. (Does anyone know if there's a new edition?)

About a week ago I finished a text about the History, Development, and Literature of the 20th Century American Wind Band. Dr. Booth recommended it to me as we started a "History of Wind Band and Literature" class during my first quarter of graduate studies.

Out of the books, I have started reading for coursework this has been the most interesting. I have found facts and figures, but this book really seems to explore how serious works for the wind ensemble came to be after 1900. It was published in 1994 so it doesn't deal with out current new works, but the bulk of literature I really enjoy so far comes from this period. The development of our medium is still so young when you compare us with the orchestra. I wonder where the wind ensemble is headed...

The book includes an easy to read format outlining periods in development by year. It's broken down by 1900-1959(The Early Years), 1960-1974(Changes and Growth), 1975-1989(Expansion and New Connections), 1990-1994(Two Different Worlds and Exposures), which leads up to the publication of the book. The last half of the book tackles the topics of; Commissioning, Contemporary Wind Band, Repertoire Establishment and Program Planning, School Band Repertoire, and Challenges.

The Appendices have helpful lists and information on the chronology of literature, recommended literature for HS Wind Bands, Instrumentations of ensembles 1952-1994, recommended reading(which I will be checking out), and the bibliography. There's also an index that can quickly help you find information within the book about certain pieces, composers, and compositions.

The author, Frank Battisti, has served as the Director of Wind Ensemble Activities at the New England Conservatory. He is also a past President of the College Band Directors National Association(CBDNA) and found of the National Wind Ensemble Conference, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles(WASBE), and the Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble. He's active guest conductor, clinician, and contributor to professional journals and is considered one of the foremost authorities on wind literature.

Before reading this book he was just a name of another conductor and college professor that I'd seen on a program or in a book somewhere. This might make me seem naive, but aren't we all? Isn't the point of further to study to teach us what we don't know, not pat us on the back for what we do? I'm really enjoying discovering things like this through my studies.

That's probably why I'm spending so much of my break in the Dunbar Library. Here's to learning!