WASBE 2007 - Research Sessions

Monday July 9th, 2007 - 11:00 am

Session 1 "Fiala - Divertimenti"

Presenter: Bastiaan Blomhert

The fourteen Divertimenti by Joseph Fiala (1748-1816), that were published for the first time in 2006 in a modern edition, are mini-symphonies, each with four movements and a performing time of 8-10 minutes. They are well-written for wind instruments (Fiala was an oboe and English horn player and highly respected as such and as composer by Mozart) and do not display virtuosity or major technical difficulties. Therefore, these pieces are very fit to be performed by ensembles of younger players (16-18 years) as a preparation for the larger regular classical Harmoniemusik repertoire such as the Mozart Serenades or the Beethoven Octet. Some of the Divertimenti have two English horns, that however can be substituted by clarinets, which means, that four clarinets can be employed in a chamber music group at the same time. The session will include information for the conductors in the audience, how to tackle in general a classical piece and how articulations and dynamics in the 18th Century can or even should be interpreted.

BIOGRAPHY

Bastiaan Blomhert (1944) studied musicology with Eduard Reeser at the University of Utrecht and viola with Jürgen Kussmaul and conducting with Louis Stotijn in the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He worked extensively with Arvid Jansons. He was professor of music history in the Conservatories of Utrecht and Arnhem, where he also coached chamber music and taught instrumentation. His early activities as conductor include the musical directorship of one of the Leiden University Orchestras. Since the late 1970s, when he founded the Oktopus Wind Ensemble his field became the classical wind band music, both as conductor in the concert hall or the recording studio and as researching musicologist in (mostly centraleuropean) musical archives. Blomhert earned his Ph. D. in 1987 with a dissertation about the Donaueschingen Harmoniemusik of The Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart K.384. Bastiaan Blomhert has toured all over the world and his guest conducting activities range from leading the Wind Ensemble of the Academy of St. Martin’s in the Fields (with whom he has worked since 2000) to the Chamber Music Hawaii and from the Amadeus Winds (New York) to the wind players of the Russian National Orchestra. His editions and arrangements are published by Breitkopf & Härtel, Chester, Doblinger, Molenaar and others and are frequently performed all over the world. In the beginning of the year 2006 a large number of Harmoniemusik scores edited by Bastiaan Blomhert was published by Floricor Editions in The Hague. His lecturing and teaching activities include appearances at many universities and schools of music, i.a. the Royal College of Music of London and Cornell University (1999), the University of Central Oklahoma (2004) and congresses, i.a. WASBE 2001 (Luzern), the CBDNA (Minneapolis) in 2003 and WASBE 2005 (Singapore). Blomhert is married and lives in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Monday July 9th, 2007 - 12:15 pm

Session 2 "Sonare e Cantare: Music for Chorus and Winds"

Presenter: Keith Kinder

This paper will present an historical overview of the substantial repertoire for chorus with accompaniment by wind instruments. Since this genre includes a very large number of compositions, works by major composers will be featured, although lesser-known composers have contributed important pieces that must also be considered. As much as possible reviews will be illustrated by recorded examples. The major focus of this presentation will be to reveal the considerable contribution of major composers to this repertoire, and to demonstrate the high musical quality of the core works in this genre.

BIOGRAPHY

Keith Kinder is currently Associate Professor of Music in the School of the Arts at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, where he conducts the McMaster Chamber Orchestra and the McMaster Concert Band, and is responsible for the direction of the Music Education program. Prior to his appointment at McMaster, Dr. Kinder served on the faculty of the University of Prince Edward Island and taught instrumental music for many years in the schools of Nova Scotia. He holds degrees from the University of Western Ontario (B. Mus. – Music Education), Northwestern University (M. Mus. – Trombone Performance), and the University of Colorado (D.M.A. – Instrumental Conducting). An internationally recognized researcher in the area of wind music, Dr. Kinder appears regularly at conferences all over the world, and publishes frequently in recognized journals dedicated to his primary research interest.

Tuesday July 10th, 2007 - 9:45 am

Session 3 - Session Title: “The Royal Academy of Music Junior Dept and the Wind Dectet”

Presenter: Pete Harrison

We will play in an open rehearsal session where we rehearse and discuss various pieces we would work on in a normal day at the Academy, talk a bit about what we do every Saturday in the Junior Department that gets our students out of bed before the sun is up for 33 weeks of the year! This would be followed up by a concert performance where we would perform the pieces worked on in the rehearsal. We will be leaning gently towards the works of British composers that are maybe not so well known.

BIOGRAPHY

Pete teaches bassoon at the Royal Academy of Music Junior Department and Wells Cathedral School. He runs the Focus on Chamber Music Course with the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Great Britain and coaches with many other organisations including the National Youth Wind Ensemble and the National Youth Orchestra.
As a conductor he works regularly with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Junior Academy Symphony Orchestra. Recent concerts with the BSO have included “One Enchanted Evening” (Rodgers & Hammerstein), “Live & Let Die” (the music from the Bond films) and “Voulez-Vous” (Abba).
He has played and conducted extensively in the West End where he is still involved with many current shows.

Tuesday July 10th, 2007 - 11:00 am

Session 4 "Conducting Masterclass"

Presenter: Gerhard Markson

As an International orchestral conductor, Gerhard Markson has traveled the world and conducted some of the finest orchestras. In this session, he will share his considerable knowledge and experience and develop the concept that every movement of the conductors body should mean something to the members of any ensemble he fronts. Don't call him Maestro because he believes himself to be just a musician whose instrument happens to be the (in this case) the wind orchestra.

BIOGRAPHY

Gerhard Markson was born in Bensheim an der Bergstrasse. He studied at the Frankfurt Academy of Music. During the 1970s he participated regularly in Igor Markevitch's international conducting classes in Monte Carlo and studied with Franco Ferrara in Rome. He then went the classical way of a German "Kapellmeister". Having worked as an opera and symphony conductor at the opera houses in Augsburg, Oldenburg and Freiburg, he became music director at Hagen Theatre from 1991 to 1998. During that time he was invited to such renowned opera houses as the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Hamburg State Opera and the Norwegian State Opera in Oslo. Gerhard Markson has a busy international conducting career. He has worked with over 90 orchestras worldwide, including the St. Cecilia Orchestra in Rome, RAI Turino, Monte Carlo Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Swiss Radio Symphony Orchestra in Basle and the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. Gerhard Markson has appeared at such prestigious festivals as the Berlin Festival Weeks, Colorado Music Festival and the Hong Kong Festival. He also has an extensive recording career. Recordings with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra include Ein Heldenleben, Macbeth and Don Quixote by Richard Strauss. In September 2001 Gerhard Markson assumed the position of Principal Conductor of the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra. Plans for 2003/04 season include an all-Brahms programme in the opening of the Seoul Music Festival and a concert with the Symphony Orchestra of the Norwegian radio in Oslo.

Tuesday July 10th, 2007 - 12:15 pm

Session 5 "The Wind Band - Dynamic System or Dynamic Institution?"

Presenter: Gary Hill

Since at least the 1920s, many leaders of the wind band field have espoused the view that in order to become a legitimate medium of serious artistic expression, the wind band should 1) comprise a standard instrumentation; and/or 2) spend its resources soliciting new works from significant (i.e., “art music”) composers. On the surface, these appear to be worthy goals; arguably, the pursuit of them has advanced the wind band in several important ways.
Paradoxically, this ideology has also served to distance the field from its centuries-long history as a fluid, dynamic ensemble—a musical agent that, for most of its existence, has been highly germane to its social context. By examining historical and statistical evidence—and with a small portion of prognostication about the future thrown in for good measure—I hope to persuasively demonstrate that to abandon dynamism in favour of an engineered, welldefined,
“finite-state” approach to the wind band will mean hastening the band’s marginalization, perhaps leading to its premature extinction.

BIOGRAPHY

Gary Hill is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Arizona State University where he conducts the Wind Symphony and the Chamber Winds, teaches graduate conducting, and is
founder of the Digital Conducting Laboratory. Prior to Hill’s appointment at ASU, he was
Director of Bands at the University of Missouri- Kansas City Conservatory of Music, where he
also served as Music Director for the Kansas City Youth Wind Ensemble, and conducted two professional groups: the Kansas City Symphony Brass Ensemble and newEar, a chamber ensemble devoted to contemporary music. Previously, he held a similar post at East Texas State University and was Associate Director of Bands at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Hill began his teaching career in Michigan where he served as Director of Bands for the West Bloomfield and Traverse City public schools. High school, university, and professional
ensembles under Hill’s direction have given performances for the National Band Association,
the Music Educators National Conference, the College Band Directors National Association, the International Horn Symposium, the National Flute Association, at many state conventions,
and throughout North America, and Europe.
Performances conducted by him have consistently drawn praise from composers, performing
musicians, and critics alike for their insightful, inspired, and cohesive realizations, and for their
imaginative programming. Hill’s current research is two-fold: he is engaged in an ongoing investigation of digital technologies applicable to the conducting classroom, with an emphasis on motion capture technology; and he is writing a book on the past, present, and future of wind band. Gary W. Hill is a member of numerous professional organizations including the Music
Educators National Conference, The Society for American Music, The American Bandmasters
Association, and the College Band Directors National Association, for which he hosted the
Fiftieth Anniversary National Conference (1991) as well as the joint conferences of the North
Central and Southwestern Divisions in conjunction with The Society for American Music (1998), served as president of the Southwestern Division (1989-91), and as national president (2003-05).

Wednesday July 11th, 2007 - 9:45 am

Session 6 "Repertoire for Saxophone and Wind Orchestra"

Presenter: Rob Buckland

Illustrated with recordings and scores, this discussion will include reference to the commissioning process, specific technical challenges and significance within the repertoire in general.

BIOGRAPHY

Rob Buckland is internationally acclaimed as one of the most distinctive and versatile Saxophonists of his generation. Appearing as concerto and recital soloist, with his Equivox Trio, and with the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, Rob performs throughout the UK, Europe and Japan. He has commissioned music from many of today’s leading composers, and is featured on nearly a dozen recordings as a soloist and a member of the Apolo Saxophone Quartet. He regularly performs and records with a wide variety of classical, jazz and “funk” ensembles such as Michael Nyman Band, London Saxophonic, BBC Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Sax Assault, the Apitos Latin Big Band and his own jazz quartet, and can regularly be heard performing on Film and TV soundtracks. Over the past 21 years, Rob has spent a significant proportion of his time performing and recording with the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, a world class ensemble that is widely acknowledged as one of the UK's finest contemporary chamber ensembles, performing commissioned music from some of today's finest composers, such as Michael Nyman, Michael Torke, Richard Rodney Bennett, Graham Fitkin and Django Bates. As a composer, Rob has written several works for the Apollo Quartet, including scores for saxophones and poet, and music to accompany a series of early 1900’s Black & White silent films. He is writing a highly successful ongoing series of compositions for young players, has recently composed works for Sax Assault, and Equivox Trio, and is currently writing a series of songs for saxophones and voice with singer Anna Gracie. To coincide with his tenth anniversary at the RNCM, Rob is also writing a new saxophone study/method book, due for release in 2007. He runs his own International Saxophone Summer School and maintains a role as saxophone tutor for the National Youth Wind Ensemble. Alongside his busy performing schedule, Rob is Professor of Saxophone at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, where, since 1997, along with Apollo colleague Andy Scott, he has established the UK’s largest Saxophone programme.

Wednesday July 11th, 2007 - 11:00 am

Session 7 Symposium "Considerations in Writing for Voices and Winds"

Chair: Sally Groves (Head of Contemporary Music and Member of Board of Directors, Schott Music Ltd., London)

PANEL
Martin Bussey (UK) [composer/conductor]
Jacob de Haan (Belgium) [composer]
Keith Kinder (Canada) [author/conductor]
Stephen McNeff (Ireland/UK) [composer]
Joseph Phibbs (UK) [composer]
Timothy Reynish (UK) [conductor]
Phillip Scott (UK) [conductor]

Aimed at promoting a genuinely fruitful exchange of ideas between composers, librettists, conductors, players, singers and publishers – who either have in-depth professional experience to share, or approach the topic with specific interest. This will be the first time that this area of repertoire (which undoubtedly constitutes a distinguished body of work) will have been given a spotlight in the twenty-six years of WASBE to date.

Wednesday July 11th, 2007 - 12:15 pm

Session 8 “Varèse and Duchamp: Different Mediums, Similar Inspiration”

Presenter: Colleen Richardson

Edgard Varèse had closer affiliations with painters and poets than with composers, and Intégrales was composed after extended contact with artists from the Arensberg circle. This session will juxtapose representative works of art by Marcel Duchamp, the most influential artist in the Arensberg circle, with Varèse’s Intégrales to see how aesthetic parallels exist in different media. The most significant philosophical, technical, and conceptual correlations will be outlined. Throughout the session, participants will see digital photographs of Duchamp’s work and hear excerpts of Varèse’s Intégrales in order to provide visual and aural references.

BIOGRAPHY

Colleen Richardson oversees the wind band program and directs the windensemble at the University of Western Ontario. She teaches undergraduate musiceducation classes as well as graduate conducting lessons and graduate conducting seminars. Prior to joining the faculty at UWO, Dr. Richardson was Assistant Professor of Music Education at Converse College in South Carolina. After graduating from Brandon University with a Bachelor’s degree in Music (Music Education), Dr. Richardson earned a Wind Conducting Diploma from the University of Calgary in 1996. While working towards her diploma, she studied with many well respected composers and conductors, including: Craig Kirchhoff, Karel Husa, Warren Benson, David Maslanka, Eugene Corporon, Mallory Thompson, Dale Lonis, Allan Bell, Robert Reynolds, Jerry Junkin and Tyrone Paterson. Under the instruction of Glenn Price, Dr. Richardson received her Mmus in Conducting from the University of Calgary. She earned a D.M.A. in Wind Conducting with Rodney Winther at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where her research focused on wind literature, chamber wind repertoire, Messiaen’s compositional techniques, and Varèse’s connections with visual artists. While in Cincinnati, Dr. Richardson co-directed the Tri-State Chamber Players, as well as served as the Music Director and Conductor of the Cincinnati Youth Wind Ensemble. Prior to her doctoral studies, Dr. Richardson taught instrumental music in the Canadian public school system for 14 years. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she chaired the Optimist International Band Festival in Winnipeg for seven years; directed one of the University of Manitoba jazz bands; conducted the Long and McQuade All Star Wind Ensemble; and guest conducted regional bands. Dr. Richardson was the Business Manager for the Winnipeg Wind Ensemble and performed in this group for seven seasons. In 1996, Dr. Richardson was selected as “Outstanding Conductor” at Musicfest Canada.

Wednesday July 11th, 2007 - 2 pm - 3.30 pm

Open Rehearsal with the International Youth Wind Orchestra Conducted by Gerhard Markson

Thursday July 12th, 2007 - 9.45 am

Session 9 “Performance Masterclass”- Presenter: Evelyn Glennie

Dame Evelyn Glennie's official website

Thursday July 12th, 2007 - 11:45 am

Session 10 “New Music for Wind, 2005 - 2007”

Presenter: Timothy Reynish

Worldwide there is unceasing activity in the commissioning and premiering of works for wind band and wind ensemble. Many of these pieces attract no press and no critical acclaim, or perhaps are noted in a college website or a learned journal to be forgotten soon after the first performance. This session attempts to list the major works written since 2005, where possible to give contact addresses for composer or conductor, and in some cases musical examples will be provided. There will be a library open during the week for delegates to peruse selected scores and hear recordings located in the Library section of the WASBE 2007 trade exhibition.

BIOGRAPHY

Timothy Reynish studied horn with Aubrey Brain and Frank Probyn. He was a music scholar at Cambridge and held principal horn positions with the Northern Sinfonia, Sadler’s Wells Opera (now ENO) and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 1977 he succeeded Philip Jones as Head of School of Wind & Percussion. He was awarded a Churchill Travelling Fellowship in 1982 which enabled him to study the development and repertoire of the American symphonic wind band movement. In the following two decades he developed the wind orchestra and ensemble of the RNCM to become recognised as one of the best in the world, commissioning works from composers such as Richard Rodney Bennett, John Casken, Thea Musgrave and Aulis Sallinen, performing regularly in major Festivals such as Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Huddersfield and Three Choirs, broadcasting for BBC and Classic FM, playing at three WASBE Conferences and making commercial compact discs for Doyen and Chandos. He has given clinics, lectured, guest conducted and adjudicated in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Norway, Oman, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the USA. For ten years was Editor of the Novello Wind Band & Ensemble series and he is now Editor with Maecenas Music. His engagements recently have included concerts and conducting clinics in Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Latvia, Ireland, Israel, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. He was President of WASBE, the World Association for Symphonic Bands & Ensembles from 2001 until 2002. In the Fall of 2005 he assumed the post of Senior Professor in Woodwind and Brass at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and conducted the Wind Ensemble in a gala concert at the Barbican, celebrating the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Guildhall. In the Spring of 2006 he was visiting Professor at Ithaca College, New York State, and in June returned to the Royal Northern College of Music in a programme of his commissions, including works premieres by David Horne and Edwin Roxburgh, and works by Adam Gorb and Christopher Marshall.

Friday July 13th, 2007 - 9.45 am

Session 11 “Presentation on Percussion”

Presenter: Evelyn Glennie

Cllick here to go to Dame Evelyn Glennie's official website

Friday July 13th, 2007 - 11:00 am

Session 12 “‘Composing Wind Music for an International Constituency’”

Chair: Thomas Duffy (Director of Bands & Professor of Music, Yale University, USA)

PANEL
Fergal Carroll (Ireland)
Kenneth Hesketh (UK)
Odd Terje Lysebo (Norway)
Oliver Waespi (Switzerland)
Guy Woolfenden (UK)

No WASBE Conference would be complete without a symposium for the exchange of ideas and opinions between the two principal factions in group music-making: the composers and the conductors. The former will predominate on this panel but all participants have had considerable experience of the demands of both disciplines.
The proposed agenda for the debate will include the following points:

How much does the success of your music depend on publishing and distribution through professional music businesses or the music industry?

Other than level of technical difficulty, is there a difference between wind band music that is written for school ensembles as opposed to professional ensembles?

If you had unlimited support, what would you write for a wind band or ensemble?

Does absolute music have a place in the wind band repertoire, which seems to be inundated with program music?

Can and do critics review wind band compositions with the same standards that they apply to orchestral and chamber music, sacred music and opera?

Friday July 13th, 2007 - 12:45 pm

Session 13 “The Unknown Wind Music of Shostakovich”

Presenter: Odd Terje Lysebo

A presentation of works by Dmitri Shostakovitch originally written for winds from 1928 to 1974. There are music from balletts, from film, plays and concert pieces. Many of the compositions have hardly been performed since the premiere. For the wind world these are hidden treasures and many curiosities from one of the greatest composer of the 20th century. The work will be presented in an historical, theoretical and musical context. All the music will be performed by Nanset Wind Ensemble.

BIOGRAPHY

Odd Terje Lysebo has a large musical background o.a. with studies in theory and composition with Antonio Bibalo and conducting with Øivin Fjeldstad in Oslo, Igor Markevitsj in Paris, Herbert Blomstedt in Copenhagen and Frederick Fennell in USA. Today he is Director of Music for the city of Larvik, Norway, where he also is the artistic director of Larvik School of Performing Arts which he founded in 1974. For many years he has guest conducted and lectured all over Europe, U.S.A. and Canada. He has among others guest conducted US Marine Band, US Navy Band, US Army Band, US Air Force Band. He was the first non american to conduct all the four Service Bands in Washington. He has conducted in 20 European countries - in Paris the famous Musique de la Guarde Republicaine de Paris, in Copenhagen The Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In USA he has been visiting professor at a.o. Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music, St. Olaf College, Luther College, Concordia College, Winthrop University. In Europe he has lectured at Norges Musikkhøgskole (Academy of Music in Oslo, Norway), all the Conservatories of Music in Norway, at The Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm, Sweden. He has been conductor of the Norwegian National Youth Band and The Finish National Youth Band. In Norway is a very popular guest conductor of all the Norwegian Military bands. Odd Terje Lysebo has dedicated much of his time to contemporary music. Many Norwegian and foreign composers have written music to him. He has conducted many world premieres and has had a lot of European and Norwegian premieres of important works by composers like Karel Husa, Warren Benson, Gunther Schuller, Olivier Messiaen, Paul Hindemith. He has made many CD recordings on different labels. He is a well know arranger of band music and has arranged more than 400 hundred works for band. Many of them are large orchestral works for orchestra like Stravinskij – The Rite of Spring and The Firebird suite. Bartok – Concerto for orchestra and The Miraculous Mandarin, Gustav Mahler- Symphony no 3. For his work Odd Terje Lysebo has received many awardshe Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Orpheus Award for his ”significant and lastingly contribution to the cause of music in America”, Larvik Award of culture, Norwegian Honorary Medal for Conductors, Prize of Culture of Hedrum Sparebank. He is Honorary Member of the International Music Camp, ND, Honorary Member of three Norwegian Band organizations, Honors from St. Olaf College and Purdue University.

Saturday July 14th, 2007 - 11:00 am

Session 14 “Transcribing Greatness: Brahms’ Begräbnisgesang scored for Symphonic Winds, with or without chorus”

Presenter: James Ripley

Brahms’ early choral work, Begräbnisgesang, Op. 13, was originally scored for an accompaniment of twelve winds and timpani. The transcription for full band (with or without chorus) provides an opportunity for many more musicians to experience this masterwork. Performance considerations of choral music with wind accompaniment will be the central focus of this session, with topics such as diction, tessitura, and ensemble set-up to be discussed. Text clarity, both in pronunciation and meaning, will also be included; as well as specific methods of scoring used to highlight textual meaning.

BIOGRAPHY
James C. Ripley is Associate Professor of Music, Chair of the Music Department, and Director of Instrumental Music Activities at Carthage College. He also serves as Conductor and Music Director of the Sakuyo Wind Orchestra at Sakuyo University in Kurashiki, Japan. At Carthage, Dr. Ripley conducts the Wind Orchestra and Concert Band, and is head of the music education program. Prior to his appointment at Carthage, Dr. Ripley served as Assistant Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music, where he was the Associate Conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and Wind Orchestra, and conductor of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble at the River Campus of the University of Rochester. Dr. Ripley received his D.M.A. in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Donald Hunsberger. He has a M.M. in Wind Conducting from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a B.A. in Music Education from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Former positions held by Dr. Ripley were at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, and at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. In addition, Dr. Ripley has taught for eleven years in the public schools of Minnesota and Iowa. Dr. Ripley is an active arranger and editor of wind ensemble music. He collaborated with Morton Gould on the completion of the "American Ballads" for band, and has recently created performing editions of Howard Hanson's “Pan and the Priest” for chamber winds and piano, and "Triumphal Ode for Military Band", the first symphonic work for band by an American composer. Two of Dr. Ripley’s works are published in the Donald Hunsberger Wind Library by Warner Brothers Publications. Several articles authored by Dr. Ripley on repertoire, programming practices and conducting have been published in The Instrumentalist, Wind Works, BD Guide, and Journal of Band Research. Professional affiliations include the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (Secretary), College Band Directors National Association National Band Association, Music Educators National Conference, Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma (Honorary Member). Dr. Ripley has appeared as guest clinician and conductor throughout the United States, Canada and Japan.

Saturday July 14th, 2007 - 12.15 pm

Session 15 “A discussion of Laban Technique in Conducting”
Presenter: Erica Neidlinger

Breathing as a player differs from breathing as a conductor. Wind players must constantly exhale in order to create vibration and therefore sound. Breathing as a conductor must reflect the rise and fall of the musical line. Determining where the music inhales and exhales can guide the interpretation of a piece both in the study and conducting stages of a score, eventually influencing the sound of an ensemble. When the conductor’s breathing reflects the score, a connection to the music becomes apparent.

Understanding the use of the torso in relation to Laban’s Effort Shape Theory
can contribute to mastering the use of the breath. Conductors will be introduced to Laban’s work through discussion and physical exploration of basic elements. Musical examples will be used to demonstrate the use of the breath to convey different musical intentions.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Erica J. Neidlinger will join the faculty at DePaul University in the fall of 2007 as conductor of the Wind Symphony. She spent the last four years as Assistant Director of Bands at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, where she conducted university ensembles and directed the Marching Mavericks. In January of 2005 the Marching Mavericks represented the state of Nebraska in Washington, D.C. for the Presidential Inaugural Parade. Additional responsibilities included teaching graduate and undergraduate conducting as well as instrumental methods courses. She completed her doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota under the supervision of Professor Craig Kirchhoff.
Prior to her doctoral studies, Neidlinger was a member of the band and music education faculty at The Ohio State University. Dr. Neidlinger has also served as conductor of the Nebraska Wind Symphony. Under her direction the ensemble was selected to perform for the 2005 Association of Concert Bands National Convention and the 2007 Nebraska State Bandmasters Conference. Neidlinger holds a Bachelors degree from the University of Kansas and a Masters degree from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She began her teaching career as director of bands in the Piper School District, Kansas City, Kansas.
An active guest conductor and clinician, Dr. Neidlinger has presented at many state conferences and is a clinician for the 2007 Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. She is also a recipient of the Kappa Kappa Psi Silver Baton Award and was selected for inclusion in the 2005-2006 edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. She has served as concert band chair to the Nebraska State Bandmasters Association and is a member of Music Educators National Conference, College Music Society, College Band Directors National Association, National Band Association, Phi Beta Mu, and World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles.

Updated 1st July 2007