But for now, on with the blog posts!

Do you hear what I hear? The inspiration for today’s blog post is this YouTube video about auditory illusions:

This video succinctly demonstrates certain things we need to watch out for in rehearsals, and especially on the concert stage.

Volume

Last week I was chatting to a professional drummer about hearing protection. It was after a concert band rehearsal where I had had the pleasure of sitting up the back among the percussionists, only to be deafened by a cymbal roll. The player seemed unphased while I was blocking my ears in agony 2m away. According to my drummer friend, there is a metre-or-so “cone of silence” (okay I just made that up, it’s not remotely silent), around a drummer, where they will hear only a fraction of the sound they are producing. The example in my conversation was a rim shot – a sound that will cut through the band, but isn’t actually that loud in the drummer’s own ears.

How does this affect your rehearsal?

As the music director, you’re the person most closely resembling an audience (you already know that!) Point being, don’t be afraid to be clear about the balance of the ensemble, as there is a chance the player isn’t hearing what you’re hearing. And this doesn’t just go for percussion. Because this is a matter of perception, it will change from player to player, so adjust as you go. Players will learn to judge this for themselves according to their own perceptions.

Tempo

Tempo is a massive one. Have you ever listened to a live performance of yourself, thinking “hmm. I don’t remember it being that fast!” Maybe you’re a portrait of grace under pressure, so it seemed slow at the time. Or maybe you were nervous and raced the tempo – too stressed to realise it was too fast. I wager that you’ve never been too SLOW in a performance – not even in Nimrod!

We usually say you ‘lose’ about 10-15% of skill on the concert stage. That means long breaths are a bit shorter, tricky passages are just that bit trickier under the fingers, and unfortunately for directors, judgement on tempos can vary too. Mathematically, if you’re 15% out on a steady moderato (100bpm) - that brings you either up to 115pbm (allegretto) or down to an andante. That’s a scary realisation!

So how can we fix it?

In rehearsal, keep a metronome on the podium. Use it on silent (flashing lights only) to maintain a standard, controlled time keeper. Warning, though! It will distract you from creating music if you rely on it too much – just check your tempo and then go back to doing what you do best – drawing the music out of your musicians.

The “trolley car” effect. Years ago I arranged a piece of music marked “tempo de trolley car“. The Trolley Car song has a catchy tune and a tempo that’s hard to mistake. Get the feel of this one in your mind and you’re unlikely to ‘miss’ on a song of a similar tempo. Think of a couple of bars of this one before you bring the band in, to get the feel going.

Don’t be afraid to go slow. Slow says “I’m in control, you’re MY audience and you’ll hear our amazing music in good time!” Slow shows maturity in both musical expression and not losing control on stage.  Sometimes this is more about musical shaping and rubato than about tempo, but I encourage you to pull out an old recording or two and see how you went with your tempo accuracies.

For the instrumental players among you, by the way, the only way to overcome this 10-15% change is to practice. As the saying goes, “amateurs practice until they can get it right; professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong”.

Whatever you do, enjoy your music!

GG

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Hi everyone, and happy Autumn!

“If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn” – Charlie Parker

In this March edition of the Greysen blog I wanted to talk about the value of doing recordings, as in the past few weeks I’ve learnt the hard way that Bird’s quote isn’t quite comprehensive enough!

I just finished a recorded audition for an overseas orchestra, and to my dismay, the first take of the recording was a bit of a wake-up call. My playing wasn’t how I thought it sounded. When I thought I was being vivacious and scherzo-like, I was actually just being a bit accented and un-controlled. On the flip side, when I thought I was struggling with tonal projection and vibrato, the recording picked up a sweet flowing tone. In short, I learnt (well, ‘re-learnt’, because I already knew this) that you can’t trust your ears when you’re on the instrument. (or in front of an ensemble, either).

With the right recording equipment, you need to do a check-up every now and again. Record yourself and listen to it with a tuning machine on – this is better than just using the pitch machine in practice time (although for God’s sake, keep doing that anwyay!) because you don’t have the distraction of physically manipulating the instrument as you listen. It’s important to keep flexing that analytical muscle – “was that crescendo as effective as I expected?” “was my use of vibrato effective here?” “did I allow dynamics to affect pitch” and so on… This all applies to ensembles and ensemble directors too. I think there is also an element of cognitive bias involved (especially when directing an ensemble) that will tend to make you believe that things are great just because of the amount of time and effort it took to create them. I aim to be as un-biased as possible when I’m conducting, so that I can evaluate whether a piece really has improved over 6 weeks, or if my increased familiarity (yes, even familiarity with the ‘bad bits’) just made me like it more. Ever noticed how you can grow to like an annoying tune once you’ve heard it enough? I reckon the same danger exists for poor performance.

The recording also affords you the opportunity to analyse what is actually heard by the audience, verses what you hear in your head. When you hear your own sound, you hear it permeating through your facial bones and muscles before reaching your ears, in addition to what the audience hears bouncing around the room. You can hear that tiny bit of spit that got stuck on the mouthpiece, or your tongue hammering away in your mouth like a jackhammer. But the audience can’t. I once knew someone who played in the orchestral pit of the Australian Ballet, and she remarked to me how noisy the pounding of the dancers’ feet were on the stage – it was like being in an earthquake. But you couldn’t tell that from the audience’s perspective – the dancers look light as a feather. If you’re aware what will and will not transfer to the audience, you can re-assess the limitations of the instrument.

The other massive bonus of doing a recording is that it forces you to do “one good take” of any piece you’re performing. You can’t stop and just “do that bit again”. Forcing yourself to raise the bar will improve your on-stage performances and prepare you for any higher end recording in future.

There you go. You already knew all of that, I guarantee. But it helps to remember occasionally.

Cheers

Sarah

So I’m going to climb up on my soap box for a couple of minutes to expound on how it is up to YOU to create the right environment for your students. I’ll start with the mantra “excellence does not require perfection”. Settle for excellence. Strive for it. Every program will have its strengths and weaknesses; every program will have players who come and go, but you need to keep your sights focused on creating an excellent environment for your students.

In many cases you could be the first time your players/singers have been exposed to music. They ummed and ahhed about joining choir, and finally they plucked up the courage to join – so put yourself in their shoes for a moment. Imagine you plucked up the courage (for example) to finally try skydiving (and let’s face it, for some music students playing music in front of others is equally scary). To embark on your skydiving expedition, you ring the school, you make a time, maybe you fill out some paperwork and buy some suitable clothing for the occasion. You’re excited. Scared, but excited. Finally the day arrives and you rock up at the school, only to find the instructor faffing about with the parachute. Or maybe he has an off-sider doing that role for him, but he still looks like he’s not 100% sure of the ‘backstage’ operation (forgive my showbiz speak). He tells you he’s jumped thousands of times, so you’ll be fine. Would you go ahead with the jump? If so, would you take a second go? I wager you probably wouldn’t, and it’s the same for your band kids. They don’t care how many kickass gigs you’ve done if you look like a newbie up on the podium.

This issue is addressed in our courses at Greysen, although we refer to it as “asset management”. Once you realise that your players are assets who need managing, you realise that if they’re not managed, they’re not maintained. And if they’re not maintained, they’re not musicians (or at least not musicians in your program!) We talked about this a lot at the summer school, and some of our participants hadn’t yet considered this as a train of thought.

This is particularly poignant at the moment, with news headlines plagued with cuts to the funding of orchestras (click to read about funding cuts to QYO) and musicians struggling to find a valued place in the industry. Just recently it was announced that players in the Minnesota Orchestra ended a 15 month dispute over pay cuts, and I can’t help but wonder if we would still be reading these headlines if their management and more of their audience members had received a quality musical exposure in their formative years. We’re seeing it too in the Army – Australia’s #1 employer of professional musicians – which has had to cut some bands back from full time musicians to reservists, and re-structure other bands from full military wind ensemble to a big band, in response to a combination of funding and what’s popular.

Remember, the first exposure to music is what could make or break someone’s life in music. It’s up to you how you help steer their musical endeavours, and whether you turn out James Morrison the trumpeter or James Morrison the plasterer.

Whatever you do, enjoy your music.

GG

PS we all had a ball at the summer school. If you’re thinking about coming out for a course, check out some of the feedback we’ve received!

In the world of community, development and/or educational music, it can be surprising how the basic psychology of your organisation can affect long term results. Have you ever noticed that some organisations (particularly schools) can grow a basic type of psychology? … ever noticed that the students in a particular school achieve similar results in both specific school subjects, and also on a larger long-term scale? I assure you it is not just about demographics and the quality of their teachers (although some teachers could seriously use a conducting course!)

To fully articulate the basic premise, watch this video entitled “The blue-eyed/brown-eyed experiment”  (you’ve probably already heard of it). What affected me most about this video, is that the kids’ academic performance was affected depending on whether they considered themselves superior or inferior.

The psychology of ensembles is similar, and of course it echoes the tried-and-true concept of positive re-enforcement. But there are finer nuances to this that you may not have considered.

For example, do you provide your ensemble with the opportunity to perform at significant, valued events? Or are they limited to the odd end of term assembly? Although that might be the standard that they’re at, it subconsciously communicates back to the band that that’s all they’re good for. So where’s the inspiration? Imagine the sense of achievement and pride that they would get for preparing and performing for something BIG. Maybe the school’s end of year performance/show, school fete or at the local shopping centre. The kids would walk out of rehearsal 2 inches taller thinking that they had a valued place in the school community, and that would give them reason to practice.

I have just been through this with my (now) A-grade concert band, and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind me talking about it here. I have been with the band for 5 years, and last year we entered A grade (NSW Band Association) for the first time in well over a decade. The results: we came second by just a few points, and actually won the sacred item element. The kicker: in all those years in B grade before this, we never actually won. Read that again: We never actually won B grade, yet now we were a serious threat to the A-grade champs. Just like the kids in the video who were told they were superior based on their eye colour, we had convinced ourselves that we could step up to the A-grade challenge, merely by deciding to call ourselves A-grade. In the lead-up to the competition, many players subconsciously experienced a mantra of “oops, that wasn’t A-grade, let’s improve it” during rehearsal, and it didn’t have to come from the podium. This A-grade concept was a just-add-water solution to making my players think more analytically. This self-saucing pudding became the new psychology of the ensemble. And the proof is in the pudding: we came second by just a few points, and the adjudicator referred to both bands as ‘world class’. Not bad for a community concert band that had been grasping at 2nd or 3rd place in B grade for the past few years.  By the way, check out my thoughts on creating a 5 year plan, in the lead-up to making a leap like this. In short, – and you know this already – success breeds success.

There is another concept to consider in the psychology of success, and I’ll leave you to dwell on it and report back your findings. How long do you rehearse a piece before performance? What I’m about to say is probably most relevant to adult or self-analytical ensembles (i.e. not 8-year-olds), but I reckon your rehearsal time  – like a goldfish who will grow to the size of his bowl – will fill as many rehearsals as you’ve got, with the same results. Of course you know you can over-work pieces to death, but imagine if you told your ensemble that they have 5 rehearsals to prepare an eisteddfod piece – thereby removing the option for them to be still learning their parts in 3 months – would they step up to the challenge? Send me an email or leave a comment here and let me know your experiences with this!

Whatever you do, enjoy your music.

Cheers,

GG

PS! There are still TWO spaces left for the Summer School January 22nd-25th. I will be working with YOU one-on-one to show you how you can get the most out of YOUR ensemble, with plenty of ideas to keep your program growing throughout 2014. You will also learn conducting at any level, from basic “where do I put the beat” through to fancy hand-dancing. Includes meals, accommodation and an open bar and you will REVOLUTIONISE YOUR ENSEMBLE! http://greysen.com.au/summer/

But there are some bigger questions too. Is your ensemble where you would like them to be? B grade? D grade? … A grade? Did they succeed at their performances or competitions – even if they didn’t win, did they improve on last year? I’d like you to take a moment to consider your ensemble as it is, and evaluate where you would like them to be in five years’ time. If you are happy with where they are, does that mean no further improvements can be made?

A friend of mine who conducts a community band says he is happy with the band’s level – but needs to improve on other things, such as attendance, numbers, variety of gigs, diversity of instruments (and holding onto those valued double reeds!) So, even though he’s “happy where the band is”, he’s still able to create a 5-year improvement program to address those other things. In business, they say that if you’re not growing, you’re going backwards. Although we can’t keep adding an infinite number of players to our bands, the philosophy that we can always improve something is definitely relevant.

I can help you achieve goals with your ensembles. I am just now approaching the end of a five year plan with my own concert band, and we are now competing nationally at an A grade level. In the 90s I had the same success with the Canberra Youth Wind Ensemble, and with the right combination of repertoire choices, rehearsal techniques, targeted musician management techniques and player coaching, I can help you achieve results with your ensemble – whether you simply want to grow in numbers, or whether you want to make a significant adjustment in their standard.

Creating a 5 year plan is not about simply playing harder music. A D-grade band will not necessarily become A grade by bumping them up a notch every year. In fact, that is almost certain to fail. You need to find a wholistic approach to the improvement of your ensembles through a variety of techniques that address everything from player mindset to stage layout. Consider the Purpose of every choice you make. (There’s that P-word again).

I’d love to hear some ideas about what you have done to improve your ensembles, or achieve your goals. Did you put cookies out at break time, or buy that easy version of We Will Rock You to keep them coming back to rehearsal? If you’re feeling stuck and need some guidance, drop me an email and I’ll see what I could recommend for you.

Whatever you do, enjoy your music!

GG

Repertoire is one of those ongoing challenges. In many ways it’s a consumable item. Even though we can build and hoard a library of quality music, we need to keep acquiring new charts to keep our musicians challenged and entertained, and to provide relevant and contemporary music for our audiences. I conduct a concert band with almost 88 years of history. During that time it has seen a large variety of music for all of its various incarnations (from brass band to big band depending on the flavour of the decade!), but we still aim to purchase a number of new works every year.

So – how do you choose new repertoire?

First, the problem of exactly how to find good repertoire is significantly facilitated in this day and age by the internet. If you haven’t yet been to a big publisher’s website, (check out Alfred’s, Hal Leonard and JW Pepper just to get started), you will be amazed at the ease with which you can browse through their current catalogue. Not only that, you can usually preview a recording sample of the piece, and sometimes even view the first page of the score. This is immensely handy for ensuring you pick music that is the right level for your ensemble. A great way to consider new repertoire is to take a cue from your peers. Often, eisteddfod associations will list the performance pieces of previous competitions. The NSW Band Association even lists everything in its library. If there’s a particular song you’re after, but aren’t sure which version to buy, make sure you listen to as many versions as you can find (via Youtube and the publisher websites). Maybe one version throws the B section to the brass, but another throws it to the saxes – and you will need to know which one is right for your ensemble. Here’s a pro tip: if the publisher doesn’t have a recording handy, it’s pretty easy to Youtube it and listen to another band actually performing the chart, and usually you will hear the chart as it will sound from a band of a similar level, rather than listening to an A grade band perform a demo of a D grade chart (for example).

One of the biggest pitfalls of inexperienced conductors is not knowing their ensemble’s strengths and weaknesses, nor how to deal with them. If you have a shoddy trumpet section, should you choose a chart that features them, so that they’re challenged and inspired? Or should you let them hone their skills on a chart that uses them as stable backing material, so they learn the fundamentals of rhythm and pitch before they move into the spotlight? At Greysen we work with participants one-on-one to help you understand the best choices and approaches for your ensemble.

The question of what to choose is a little trickier, and it is here that I absolutely must use the word Purpose, with a capital P. If you don’t know why you’re choosing something, then don’t choose it. What would you choose to improve a band’s intonation? How would you work with a band to improve their ensemble or musicianship? What do you look for in a publisher’s catalogue, to target and practice rhythmic accuracy and reading? (here’s a hint: if you’re using one of those A4 pages full of various rhythms on a single note – usually found at the back of a band method book – your players are going to zone out and consider chess instead of band next term). You need to know what repertoire is going to Provide Purpose to your players, so that you keep them excited and enthusiastic.

Keep your performances in mind when you’re picking new music. Sure, that 12 minute version of Pirates of the Caribbean might be cheaper than the 5 minute version – but are you going to be able to use 12 minutes of your performance time at the next school assembly? Is your ensemble skilled enough to maintain focus through a long blow in a larger program, and do they have the stamina? Will your trumpets have the chops for an encore of Trumpeter’s Lullaby? Or is that a good challenge for them? When is the right time for you to start extending them with this type of repertoire? This is another topic covered in our Foundation conducting course: how to program a concert that will keep your audience coming back and wanting more.

To finish, I wanted to add that you should be supporting Australian composers. Not just because they’re Australian, but because they are writing some excellent charts! Do check out our repertoire lists (once they go online!) for some tried-and-true music that we’ve used over the years. But don’t forget that you must know the purpose behind your choice. If you need some individual help, why not drop me a line (or better yet, do a Conducting and Musician Management course and you will come out leaps and bounds ahead of your peers).

Whatever you do, enjoy your music!

GG

A conductor’s job is about product. In writing this article, I couldn’t help but wonder if Gordon Ramsay’s food tastes delicious after all the yelling and screaming in the kitchen. I may not like his style – but does his product validate it?

A successful conductor is one who finds the style – the music – in everything that they conduct. Anyone can conduct the beat (whether they do it well or not is another matter entirely!), but your conducting success lies in taking the notes off the page. The famous Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan was criticised for not keeping the beat, but he was known for conducting not so much the music (though of course he does that) as the condition or process of making music. That means not just keeping arithmetic for the players, but conjuring up for them the imagery, passion and determination that transforms that note into music.

I don’t need to tell them where the beat is. They know where the beat is. My job is to interpret, create, direct and shape the sounds coming out of their horns. The product of a good performance is one that has been envisioned and inspired – not one that has been calculated by watching someone count to four.

There is, however, one small caveat with this explanation. The product that an audience experiences is a collective snapshot of everything the band has ever worked on. That means you may have conducted a particular bar in quavers during rehearsal, but by the time the gig arrived, your musicians knew it so well that you could practically do it in half time. Of course, this frees up your baton to indulge in style, which as we know, is the whole purpose of you being a musician in the first place.

But my kids are 8 years old and just learnt their first four notes – surely this stuff is only for professionals?

Nope. Ever noticed that the enrolment drop-off rate for beginning band students is massive? Could it be because they learn 5 notes in a band method book, and then get cajoled into playing those notes in a particular order for the rest of the school term ready for the term concert? Well, that’s not music. Music means finding the excitement in this music, whether it is the three notes in Au Clair de la Lune or the six notes in Surprise Symphony (hint: don’t forget the surprise!)

This month, I would like to encourage you to experiment beyond the beats in your score. As a little homework, check out this video of Bernstein conducting his own composition Candide. From whacky facial expressions to cheeky dance moves, he knows how to squeeze the music out of his orchestra. And as one of the greatest composers who ever lived – if he’s allowed, then so are you!

Whatever you do, enjoy your music.

GG

and assisting professionals to continue to develop
through progressive masterclasses and workshops.

It was born out of a love for music and a passion for education by Canberrans Major Geoff Grey CSM, Grad Dip App Mus, Dip Mus Mgt and Sarah Nielsen, B. Mus (1st Class Hons).

Greysen is a relaxing bushland retreat providing unique gourmet residential experiences. Located just 40 minutes from Canberra, the secluded Currawang estate is a haven for artistic endeavours including poetry, painting, photography, drawing, writing and, of course, music. Muse with the laughing kookaburras, experience the gorgeous wildflowers, follow the kangaroo mobs grazing or join in with the symphony of “frogs and friends” by the creek!

The cottage, studio and unspoilt acreage are also ideal for corporate seminars and leadership courses or any activity requiring serenity and isolation. Accommodation is on-site in our new eco-pods (subject to availability) or just five minutes away in the rustic charm of Collector village’s historic 1860’s Bushranger Hotel. Within ten minutes you’ll find award-winning produce at Lerida Estate and Lake George wineries and Grandma’s Little Bakery/Fedra Olive Grove.

Musical offerings are ongoing and seasonally varied. They include recitals around the grand piano, acoustic soirees on the cottage deck and jams in the studio. The two principal residential offerings, the Music Appreciation and Conducting courses, are booked well in advance, with guests gaining fascinating insights to music and the music industry from leading Australian conductor, producer and adjudicator – Major Geoff Grey CSM.

The Music Appreciation suite of retreats is an inspirational discovery of the backstage secrets behind creating musical performances. Guests will learn about the path of the musicians they enjoy, how music is constructed and produced, and what makes certain repertoire “extra-special”. Topics also include musical history, the background behind performance protocols and learning to recognise elements they’ll hear both in recordings and at their next concert experience … and so much more. Each course features indulgent meals, with food and wine matched to music, and the concert tailored menus are a delight to behold!

Go on … Escape to the country with like-minded friends you may not have met yet, gain valuable knowledge and enjoy some of the finest fare the Capital Region has to offer. The knowledge imparted is first hand from decades of performance experiences and there are more than a couple of fascinating morsels of insider information! Ultimately though it’s about food, wine and the arts – the perfect match as they are all about passion. Come and join them!