0:14
>> Tony, I wonder if you can talk about
specific conducting techniques that might apply just for strings.
That we can extract from what you do, that
we may not do automatically with conducting or choral conducting.
Or something like that.
>> Sure.
I think strings of course, when you're dealing with an orchestra.
The largest body of the orchestra, usually have two 3rds to
three quarters of it historically, are going to be string players.
So, they do deserve a certain kind amount of special attention.
And there are certain string techniques that
may be better served with certain physical gestures.
One of them that we've talked about is pizzicato.
And when the strings are playing a
pizzicato passage, there's an immediacy to it.
There's no gray area of when does the note start and when does it end.
Where as with the bow there is that little bit of time
you are not quite sure if the attack is there yet or not.
You can sneak into things, there is no sneaking with pizzicato.
It is immediate, it is almost like a percussion instrument.
So the gestures for creating a pizzicato attack that is absolutely unanimous have
to be very, very specific and be very clear, especially the larger your group.
Essentially what I do for pizzicati even if it's in
a legato context I give a very sharply defined upbeat gesture.
Just a simple click and down.
Click on the up and click on the down.
And absolutely make sure that all the players are watching me.
It's very easy to get a pizzicato that's just so [UNKNOWN] all across the room.
And sometimes it takes rehearsal, especially in slow tempos.
Very important to rehearse the slow pizzicati.
Pizzicati tend to rush string players.
When they have pizzicati in a faster tempo, let's say running 8th notes.
[SOUND] They tend to get faster and faster.
You always have to tell them to keep it very steady,
>> And why is that?
>> Because they are easier to play, they just,
the finger just sort of fixes on it's own
momentum, and they don't have to worry about you
know, bow direction and bow usage and all of that.
It's just a simple pluck.
Now, there are different ways of plucking, some
are more percussive than others, sometimes I'll ask
them that, could we have a pizzicato that
is not quite so harsh and aggressive in sound.
And they'll use maybe, softer part of the finger to do that with.
And that will work out well, but the
precision, of course, still has to be there.
So, that's definitely, an, an important aspect where
we have to pay attention to the sound.
Pizzicati also tend to sound softer.
Than Bowed passages.
Just by the nature of them, plucking the string
is not going to give you as much volume as bowing.
So, whenever we have pizzocato passages, I actually tell the players
you always have to think them up at least one dynamic level.
If the pizzocato is marked mezzoforte, think of it as forte, play it forte.
And if they're switching from pits to arco, you hear that
distinction very rapidly if they don't compensate for that acoustical phenomenon.
>> And when you conduct, appropriately will you, you
conduct a little but larger, based on the context?
>> Sometimes.
>> To give them the- [CROSSTALK].
>> Yeah, if they need that I will have to actually enlarge the gesture to
get more sound out of them for the pizzicati if they forget to do that.
But usually reminding them verbally in a couple of rehearsals will do
the trick, or sometimes I'll ask them to write it in their parts.
Just mark up your pizzicato to the next dynamic level, so you remember.
Also, depends on where the pizzicato is in the register.
Low string pizzicato, you resonate like crazy.
High violin pizzicati die almost instantly.
So you have to compensate for that.
That's not something you can do manually or technically,
but it's something you have to make them aware of.
The other thing you want to make them aware of
is that a nice pizzicato sound often required them to vibrate.
They can't just pluck the string, they pluck
and vibrate to give it warmth and color.
Especially in a slow tempo.
>> I was thinking, especially for the
low instruments that do resonate so much longer.
>> Yeah, exactly.
Another thing that might gesturally be helpful to think about with string
playing, is trying to emulate bow usage in your right arm, in your baton.
4:18
You often see conductors who are professional violinists and some very fine
conductors have been violinist earlier in their careers, or continue to play.
They often tend to conduct as if they have a bow in their hand.
Which means partly there's a disadvantage, because they
are conducting this direction rather than this direction.
The plane has been turned from the front to
the side, because that's how their holding the bow.
But what they are able to achieve, is the
kind of stroke with the baton that emulates the stroke.
Of, about on a nice attack.
I'm thinking of the opening of the Beethoven's 7th
symphony, where there's this big string chord tripling quadruple stops.
And if you were to just go [UNKNOWN] you wouldn't get the sound that you would if
you going to [UNKNOWN] so it's a kind
of a greater, horizontal gesture with your right arm.
Rather than vertical that is sometimes going to subliminally produce the, a
better sound from the string players if they do it that way.
You don't even have to tell them they're doing that.
You just do it and it will come up almost automatically.
[INAUDIBLE] >> So I'm curious.
How does that work?
That seems like a natural gesture for, say, the downbeat of a measure.
>> Mm-hm.
>> Or beat three of a four pattern.
Is there a way to do that for, beat two, beat four.
How.
Do you just create the same horizontal motion.
>> You do.
>> Towards the left?
>> I tend.
I tend, when there's a legato string passage, I do a lot of sort of
lateral conducting side to side to keep
the legato going, to keep the intensity going.
Sometimes a string player will use too much bow at the beginning of a long note.
They run out of bow at the end of the note and the note fades.
You have to remind them to save the bow, but you can also gesturally.
Try to keep that going with more of a lateral motion than a vertical motion.
>> Almost mimicking the speed of their bow with the.
>> Exactly.
>> Speed of the, of the pattern.
>> Exactly.
>> I'd like to circle a back little bit to the pizzicato
because you mentioned the connection, or how it's almost like a percussion.
>> Mm-hm.
>> sound.
And as a, as a wind conductor I'll often ask the percussionist to breath with us.
To help lock in what their doing
rhythmically with what the wind players are doing.
Is that something that would be appropriate to apply with a staccato?
>> Yeah, absolutely.
They have to breathe.
Everybody in an orchestra has to breathe.
Every player has to breathe.
They breathe in different ways and different times, and the hard thing is
to coordinating that anticipation of the beat,
so that some people aren't too early.
Some people aren't too late.
The low brass need a little bit more time, and
the more breath, they're sitting further away, there's a time lag.
The trombones and tuba have to breath in a
different way than the violins right next to you.
Or if there's a keyboard in the orchestra, if
there's a piano, they tend to always sound early.
It's the immediacy of the sound, it's the fact that
they're not used to necessarily playing in a large ensemble.
They've been playing solo repertoire or chamber music.
A lot of people or players haven't had the opportunity, because there hasn't
been much repertoire that needs keyboard in an orchestra until the 20th century.
They have to learn how to breathe with a little bit of a
delay, so that they match everybody behind them, whether it's percussion or brass.
And that's just a question of internal
ensemble experience on the part of the players.
And knowing that it can happen on both ends
of the strings sometimes as you say, sneaking in-
>> Yes.
>> Which delays it a bit-.
>> Yeah.
>> And percuss, percussion happening instantly-
>> Exactly.
>> [UNKNOWN].
>> Yeah, everybody has to adapt, which, sometimes it's a
miracle I think that orchestras can play one note together.
But you realize that they have that capability to learn
the tendencies of their own section, and of the other sections.
And to adjust and listen, and follow visually as well as orally.
[BLANK_AUDIO]
Dr. Evan FeldmanAssociate Professor & Wind Ensemble Conductor
