The Orchestral Conductor's Career Handbook


Book Description

In-text URLs can be accessed via the “Features” tab of the publisher’s website. Conductors face a multitude of hurdles as they strive to obtain a foothold in the professional world. Once they have attained a position, there are obstacles both on and off the podium to keeping that position as well as advancing in the profession. Founding conductor of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, pedagogue, and frequent guest conductor for both pops and classical concerts, Carl Topilow is in a unique position to help conductors navigate their careers. The Orchestral Conductor’s Career Handbook takes readers through the step-by-step process of establishing a career in orchestral conducting. Through his experiences with professional, pops, conservatory, community, youth, summer festival, opera and ballet orchestras, Topilow provides practical tips for conductors of any orchestra type and at any level of their development. Filled with personal stories from Topilow’s career, the handbook provides insights on an array of topics, including applying for conducting programs and conducting positions, connecting with audiences, developing interpersonal relations within the orchestra family, starting your own orchestra, interacting with donors, and beyond. It also presents fresh ideas for programming, rehearsing, and approaches to standard repertoire pieces.




The Listening Service


Book Description

Based on his critically-acclaimed BBC Radio 3 programme The Listening Service, in which Tom Service takes an idea on an ear-opening and mind-expanding walk through the musical landscape every week, this book is a celebration of music's multi-dimensional power in our lives. With 101 short chapters based on the programmes and grouped thematically the book will open ears and imaginations to find answers to the questions we all have about why and how music - from Toots and the Maytals and J S Bach, Gustav Mahler and Miley Cyrus, to Anna Meredith and Mozart - works its magic over us. With direct links to the programmes using a QR code, the chapters draw on powerful and communicative anecdotes and analogies, as well as the latest scientific research, and above all, a spirit of discovery and connection across genres, cultures, and histories. At its heart is the conviction that music changes us.




The Musician's Way : A Guide to Practice, Performance, and Wellness


Book Description

In The Musician's Way, veteran performer and educator Gerald Klickstein combines the latest research with his 30 years of professional experience to provide aspiring musicians with a roadmap to artistic excellence. Part I, Artful Practice, describes strategies to interpret and memorize compositions, fuel motivation, collaborate, and more. Part II, Fearless Performance, lifts the lid on the hidden causes of nervousness and shows how musicians can become confident performers. Part III, Lifelong Creativity, surveys tactics to prevent music-related injuries and equips musicians to tap their own innate creativity. Written in a conversational style, The Musician's Way presents an inclusive system for all instrumentalists and vocalists to advance their musical abilities and succeed as performing artists.




The Complete Idiot's Guide to Conducting Music


Book Description

The complex art of conducting may look effortless to the casual onlooker, however, it requires a great deal of knowledge and skill. The success of a performance hinges on the director's ability to keep the group playing together and interpreting the music as the composer intended. The Complete Idiot's Guide® to Conducting Music shows student and novice conductors how to lead bands, orchestras, choirs, and other ensembles effectively through sight-reading, rehearsals, and performances.




Orchestral Performance


Book Description

A comprehensive guide to the techniques of orchestral playing and the development of non-professional orchestras, Orchestral Performance covers all areas of orchestral music-making - instrumental technique and combination, ensemble, layout, repertoire and presentation. Christopher Adey - renowned specialist in the training of student orchestras - explores the responsibilities of both players and conductor, exposing many of the inadvertent results of interpretation with regard to sound and projection, and broadening the musical communication to which the less experienced orchestra can aspire. Written in a lively and authoritative style, this unique book is essential reading for performing musicians of all standards, instrumental teachers and aspiring conductors, and all who have any dealings with the performance of youth or student orchestras throughout the world, as well as anyone interested in what orchestral performance entails. 'A labour of love and wisdom.' Times Educational Supplement 'A treasure house of facts, advice, and hints. I could not put it down ... clearly written from the heart and from an obvious enthusiasm for the non-professional orchestra and orchestral musician.' Classical Music 'This is a thoroughly readable book, full of illustrations and containing the thoughts of someone with a wealth of experience.' Music Teacher




The Maestro Myth


Book Description

Nearly ten years after its original publication, The Maestro Myth continues to enthrall readers with its insightful look into the lives and careers of the world's most celebrated conductors. Now updated and including two new chapters, this volume portrays the politics and inflated economics surrounding the podiums of today's international classical music scene, and the obstacles faced by blacks, women, and gays. From Richard Strauss to Herbert von Karajan to Leonard Bernstein to Simon Rattle, The Maesto Myth examines the world of classical music and the mounting crisis in a profession where genuine talent grows ever scarcer. It is a must-have resource for music aficiionados as well as anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes lives of these music masters. Book jacket.




Mozart in the Jungle


Book Description

The memoir that inspired the two-time Golden Globe Award–winning comedy series: “Funny . . . heartbreaking . . . [and] utterly absorbing” (Lee Smith, New York Times–bestselling author of Guests on Earth). Oboist Blair Tindall recounts her decades-long professional career as a classical musician—from the recitals and Broadway orchestra performances to the secret life of musicians who survive hand to mouth in the backbiting New York classical music scene, where musicians trade sexual favors for plum jobs and assignments in orchestras across the city. Tindall and her fellow journeymen musicians often play drunk, high, or hopelessly hungover, live in decrepit apartments, and perform in hazardous conditions—working-class musicians who schlep across the city between low-paying gigs, without health-care benefits or retirement plans, a stark contrast to the rarefied experiences of overpaid classical musician superstars. An incisive, no-holds-barred account, Mozart in the Jungle is the first true, behind-the-scenes look at what goes on backstage and in the orchestra pit. The book that inspired the Amazon Original series starring Gael García Bernal and Lola Kirke, this is “a fresh, highly readable and caustic perspective on an overglamorized world” (Publishers Weekly).




Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs


Book Description

A hugely entertaining and riotous re-telling of a classic fairy tale from one of the most original and funny voices in children's books today. Have you ever heard the story of Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs? Yes, you heard right - DINOSAURS. Once upon a time, there were three hungry dinosaurs: Papa Dinosaur, Mama Dinosaur and ... a Dinosaur who happened to be visiting from Norway. Of course. One day, purely on a whim, they decided to tidy up their house nice and neat, make their beds up all cosy and comfortable, prepare delicious hot chocolate pudding of varying temperatures, place their chairs just so, and go ... SOMEWHERE ELSE. Let's be clear, they were definitely NOT setting up a trap for some succulent, poorly supervised little girl called Goldilocks who may wander by ... ahem.




Music as Alchemy


Book Description

How are conductors' silent gestures magicked into sound by a group of more than a hundred brilliant but belligerent musicians? The mute choreography of great conductors has fascinated and frustrated musicians and music-lovers for centuries. Orchestras can be inspired to the heights of musical and expressive possibility by their maestros, or flabbergasted that someone who doesn't even make a sound should be elevated to demigod-like status by the public. This is the first book to go inside the rehearsal rooms of some of the most inspirational orchestral partnerships in the world - how Simon Rattle works at the Berlin Philharmonic, how Mariss Jansons deals with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, and how Claudio Abbado creates the world's most luxurious pick-up band every year with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. From London to Budapest, Bamberg to Vienna, great orchestral concerts are recreated as a collection of countless human and musical stories.




Concert Halls and Opera Houses


Book Description

This illustrated guide to 100 of the world's most important concert halls and opera houses examines their architecture and engineering and discusses their acoustical quality as judged by conductors and music critics. The descriptions and photographs will serve as a valuable guide for today's peripatetic performers and music lovers. With technical discussions relegated to appendices, the book can be read with pleasure by anyone interested in musical performance. The photographs (specially commissioned for this book) and architectural drawings (all to the same scale) together with modern acoustical data on each of the halls provide a rich and unmatched resource on the design of halls for presenting musical performances. Together with the technical appendices, the data and drawings will serve as an invaluable reference for architects and engineers involved in the design of spaces for the performance of music.