Music Monday - More Covid Curiosities

Earlier this year I wrote about a soprano in a Perth fringe show asking the audience, “Twenty years ago, who would have thought that in 2021 there would be more work for a singer in Perth, Western Australia than in London?”

Although the UK and USA are now opening up to live music performance again, here in Australia (where our state borders are still subject to closure as we try to curb the Delta variant of Covid-19) the phenomenon continues. Over the past few weeks here in Perth, there have been more performances and shows involving students and friends than I have had spare evenings to attend. 

Local commercial theatres, without bookings from the national touring companies, are more open to taking local bookings. Several WA based companies have sprung up, particularly in music theatre. These companies mostly operate on a ‘pro/am’ basis; they pay some or all the performers in principal roles, but the ensemble often do it for little / no monetary reward. 

There are also smaller companies who do shows on a profit-share basis.

Some graduating actors and music theatre students from WAAPA are planning to stay in Perth for the time being, seeing it as a place where there is some possibility of work. Until the pandemic that was unheard of – graduating performers always headed to the larger, more performance active cities of Melbourne and Sydney.

On a side, but connected, note – yesterday I adjudicated some vocal sections at a local, well-established eisteddfod. In chatting to the organizer at the start, he commented that the number of piano competitors was at a record-breaking high, but that they had never had so few singers. Later, as I drove home, I pondered that situation. Are all the singers in Perth now in rehearsal or performance for our plethora of shows? 

There is no doubt that it is good to see a much more active local performance scene here. (That must be one of the few positives of the pandemic.) There is a much stronger sense of a local arts community.

 And if we also keep our ears tuned to what is happening nationally and internationally, the future of music performance in Perth could be a healthier and more abundant one.

Music Monday - Encouraging good practice habits in young singers

Most of my practice these days is incidental. I warm up my singing voice in the car on my way to school or waapa, then sing as required during lessons to demonstrate aspects of vocal technique. On piano, I accompany at least one song per lesson so most of the student repertoire is under my fingers when needed.

However, in these past few weeks I have had to play some new repertoire for exam recitals and audition self-tapes. This has necessitated some more formal practice sessions. One song accompaniment required quite a bit of work to master some tricky rhythmic passages. As always, I recalled the words of past piano teachers – my maternal grandmother and, later, Stephen Dornan. They emphasised the critical importance of regular (little and often) repetition of problem passages. Over a week I did some daily (tedious) slow practice on the accompaniment and was rewarded with the buzz that came when I could get through the whole song without mishap. The reward was quite tangible – without the practice sessions I couldn’t play the accompaniment without a sense of embarrassment. After 5 days I could – and then again, after a few days break from practising that song, the notes were still there under my fingers.

This set me thinking about the difference between motivating young instrumentalists versus young singers. With instrumentalists (young and old) no practice = an obvious inability to play the music and audible wrong notes. However, with young singers the songs are often musically simple. Singers with a good musical ear and quick memory, can sing a song with minimal practice. It might not be a convincing performance, text wise, nor use appropriate registration – but they will be able to find the notes.

So how do we motivate the young singer to practise? 

Classic FM published 10 tips to help you practice.

Most articles on practice emphasise the importance of goal-setting. For young singers, we can set specific and measurable goals around technique -eg sustaining a hiss or hum for a specific number of seconds / being able to produce a light, clear tone / brassy, louder tone, etc.

Bur when it comes to solo song repertoire, we teachers must work a bit harder to set goals that are recognisable by the student. It could be something like aiming for a particular vocal quality at certain phrases or assigning specific acting thoughts (actions) to phrases. Even then, the achievement of those goals is easier to recognise in the reaction from audience than by the singer themselves. 

As young singers mature and tackle harder repertoire, the rewards from productive practice are much more obvious to them. But good practice habits are best started early in life.

What are your thoughts on this? We would love to hear of your success stories!

Music Monday - Musings on a choral festival

I volunteered at a choral festival yesterday. The festival is an annual event for government schools here in Western Australia and yesterday took place on a beautiful cold, sunny Sunday after weeks of rain.

Over the course of the day, we heard 20+ choirs, all a high standard, and several which were memorable for the best of reasons. Stylistically, the repertoire ranged from Gregorian Chant through to beat-boxing, with lots between.

 How wonderful for students to hear excellence in performance from a choir in quite another style to their own! 

There was a real sense of ‘family’ and inclusivity within each choir.

The day was not without its challenges though. As always, choir directors received last minute emails and text messages from parents who decided spontaneously to do something else on that sunny Sunday. (Would they tell the sporting team coach that their kid was not going to play that day, I wondered?) And of course, sickness precluded some students from attending – and presented stress for the directors when those students were on key parts in the ensemble. One of my colleagues and friends had to stand in for 2 missing parts in a beautiful 11 part unaccompanied ‘Magnificat’.

The festival is non-competitive. Choirs receive comments from an adjudicator and receive a ‘grading’ – good, excellent, outstanding. But there are no winners – a healthy thing, since the point of the festival is the opportunity to perform and hear choral singing in many genres. 

However, the grading system creates an unofficial sense of competitiveness which is not always in the spirit of the festival. A grading of ‘excellent’ is interpreted as ‘average’ (since it is the middle grade in a scale of good, excellent, outstanding). If an adjudicator’s comments included something like “this was excellent singing” there would be a sense of achievement – but as a grade it can bring disappointment. 

Are we so geared to grading in arts education that we can’t accept just a critique from an adjudicator?

In conclusion, another colleague remarked that the football derby playing that day (a game between the two state teams) had attracted much news coverage and thousands in attendance at the stadium. But here we were running a government run music festival with zero news cover. Yet another indication of arts v sports in Australia? Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have arts + sports!

Schmigadoon!

I discovered this last night, after urgings from son Ben (not a particular music theatre fan) and conversations with several music theatre students in recent weeks.

It is an American musical comedy TV series of 6 episodes created by Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. It premiered on Apple TV+ on 16th July this year.

Broadly, it is a parody of the Golden Age musical, Brigadoon, but it goes much further in also parodying famous musicals of the 1940s and 1950s – Oklahoma, The Sound of Music, The Music Man, Finian’s Rainbow, Carousel, and many more. (You can play the game ‘spot the reference’).

The cast line-up is stellar- Kristin Chenoweth, Alan Cumming, Martin Short, Aaron Tveit, Ariana DeBose – to name only a few. It’s as if all these stars wanted to fill their downtime during Covid – if so, lucky us!

At all levels it tries to parody the Technicolor palette from the golden years of Hollywood, while using a contemporary sensibility. It is firmly tongue in cheek.

It would be an interesting classroom challenge for music theatre students to identify, not just the sources, but also the cliches and habits of music theatre writers. 

Sidenote – will they ever parody Sondheim?

Drama Tuesday - Spaces of Performance

 Connecting drama students with their immediate world

There is a useful introduction to outdoor theatre included recently in the TheatreFolk site:

https://www.theatrefolk.com/blog/theatre-history-introduction-to-outdoor-theatre/ 

Drama has many spaces. It can be performed in purpose-built theatres. It can be performed in streets. with ingenuity, almost any space can be turned into a place to play. We teach our students ways about Spaces of Performance and recognising the challenges of making drama in found spaces.

Many schools in Western Australia have amphitheatres included in their design. Too often they become repositories of litter or passion pits for over excited students. Rarely, if ever, are they used for drama. 

There are obvious challenges in using an outdoor venue.

• The weather is always a risk. It can rain or you and your cast can swelter in the heat/cold/wind.

• There are technical challenges for lighting, sound equipment. What do you need so that your performers can be seen and heard? How do you run power? How do ensure that cables are safe (and safe in the weather)?

• There’s also security to consider – does an outdoor performance mean that you have to bump in/out all the technical equipment each time you perform?

• Sight lines and safety for audience (you don’t want to have someone’s Gran tumble down the steps).

• Most importantly, what do you need to do preparing and rehearsing your students for the space:

• Voice and projection

• Vocal safety and health in outdoor settings

• Protection from sun and wind

• Managing props and costumes (costume changes when necessary)?

Overall, there are many things to consider when you work alfresco. But the rewards for your students are many. 

There is also an important benefit in that students are helped to consider that drama doesn’t always have to be performed in a purpose-built venue. 

And that there are opportunities for drama in their immediate geographic location if they are open to them. 

I was reminded of this reason for thinking about exploring spaces of performance in the local community. 

Amphitheatre, Geraldton, Western Australia

I took this photo during my time as Consultant for Drama. I had been working in a local secondary school and the drama teacher complained to me about the lack of local theatre for her students to visit. She went on to add that her school did not have a performing arts centre or theatre space and she taught in an “ordinary” classroom. For most of my time teaching in schools, I too taught in classrooms where the furniture was pushed back and we competed with the ambient noise from other classrooms. In that situation, there is only one thing to do: to reach out to the local community. In Merredin, we worked with the local Repertory Club and used their space, the Cummins Theatre a refurbished picture palace (that had been at one stage moved brick by brick from Coolgardie). At Armadale SHS, we found a performance space in the Pioneer Village, a replica music hall. Down the road from Armadale, the drama teacher at Kelmscott SHS performed Alex Buso’s play MacQuarrie in the courtyard outside the canteen.  

Breathtaking under threatening skies

It is not the space that makes the drama.

What matters is how we fill the space. 

After I finished my conversation with the teacher, I had some time before getting back on the plane and drove around the local area. Outside the local Council buildings – 200 metres from the school – there is a full amphitheatre. I wondered if that teacher had ever thought of walking her drama class to the amphitheatre to explore ways of bringing Greek and Roman drama to life.

Drama spaces are waiting to found and filled by students.

The Theatre at Epidaurus

Music Monday - Mentoring in music

A few weeks ago, I wrote about our 4-year-old grandson’s reactions to seeing a production of ‘Mary Poppins’ at John Curtin College of the Arts. What I didn’t talk about in that post was the orchestra.

John Curtin College of the Arts (JCCA) has a long history of putting on large scale musicals. Over the years the makeup of the orchestra has included all-student orchestras, small completely professional bands, and a mix of both. There is a strong argument for each of these, but from an educational point of view, maximum student participation is obviously preferred. A former head of music at the school achieved wonderful success with large, entirely student player orchestras; though it must be said that the audience got better sound towards the end of the run than on opening night - as the players gradually found more of the notes. Still, no one in the audience was ever in doubt that they were at a genuine school production.

Which brings me to the ‘Mary Poppins’ orchestra. This was made up of around 2/3 student players and the remaining 1/3 teachers. The driving force behind the decision was the fact that the ‘Poppins’ score is particularly difficult to play. But the benefits went far beyond that. I observed that the students’ playing went from strength to strength as they sat in among the professional teacher players. The sound from the pit was excellent right through the season. And everyone in the pit seemed to be having fun as well as learning.

Mentoring is such an important aspect of teaching and learning in music. Attempts are often made to formalise the process, and this has merit, however some of the best mentoring comes from informal interactions.

Much of what I have learned as a teacher of music and singing voice has been through formal study. Just as important, however, has been the interactions with more experienced mentors through the years – those wonderful practitioners you meet informally at conferences, as colleagues and in some unexpected settings – for me one such meeting occurred on an airline flight after a conference.

During the pandemic, our access to informal mentoring has been limited. In Australia we are not flying internationally to conferences yet - and the zoom chat box comes as a poor second best to live interactions. But we still have our work colleagues and social media.

As music teachers, we all have a part to play in the mentoring process – young teachers can benefit from chats with more experienced teachers, and older, more experienced teachers can give back by taking younger and less experienced teachers under their wing. It can be a wonderful, fun and valuable cycle.

Music Monday - And into another lockdown we go…

Today was the first of 3 days of stage one restrictions being reintroduced here in Western Australia, in response to an outbreak of the Delta variant of Covid-19 in Sydney and a case brought home to Perth by a traveller returned from the east coast. By 8pm the 3-day restrictions had developed into a 4-day lockdown from midnight. 

Australia has an embarrassingly low rate of vaccination – less than 5% of our population is fully vaccinated. Compare that with around 59% in Israel and 45% in the USA, to name just two of the many countries ahead of us. I sense that it’s not the anti-vaxxers here (though they are out in their minority with rattlings of ‘it’s a worldwide experiment’ etc), but more the  sense of ‘she’ll be right, mate’ complacency which comes from living in a country where the rate of infection has been relatively low throughout the pandemic. 

Our Australian government responded firmly and effectively at the start of the pandemic, following health advice rather than the political polls, to ensure that Australians stayed safe. Unfortunately, they took a too relaxed approach to rolling out the vaccines, contributing to our current situation.

So today at school, the students were back in masks, never ideal for singing. It is the last week of an 11-week term so as far as possible, I tried to make each voice lesson about the preparation for next term. Where singing had to occur, I encouraged the students to sing lightly and rest frequently if they felt too constrained behind their fabric. 

After school we ran a rehearsal of Matilda (Junior Version) as that performance is scheduled for the 2nd week of next term. Again, the kids sang lightly in masks while the director and I struggled to hear them – but at least they rehearsed the blocking, choreography and music accuracy.

Earlier in the school day, I couldn’t help observing, as I walked past the school gym, that around 30 students were exercising without masks – properly spaced, as the regulations require – but shouting and calling out to each other as they chased a basketball. This struck me as a metaphor for Australia’s response to Covid-19. The Arts are constantly locked down while large sporting events have still gone ahead. Are Covid-19 aerosols just more contagious when sung than when shouted out of someone’s mouth?

And so we start another lockdown. Everyone on the planet knows what to expect from that. Let’s hope that lockdown fatigue inspires more and more Australians to get vaccinated so that outbreaks in the future are significantly curtailed.

Music Monday - Enthralled in the moment

 Our grandson, William (aged 4 and three quarters, as he insists on telling us) was in the audience of the John Curtin College of the Arts production of Mary Poppins. Cousin Janet sneakily managed an iPhoto portrait as William watched, his face lit up by the reflected light from the stage.

He knew the words to songs like Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. and sang along. 

He was amazed at the animals in the toy box coming to life. 

In the interval, he wriggled and danced (and spilt his bottle of water).

In the second half his attention waned a little (and he missed the spectacular Step in Time because he had to go to the toilet with his mum). He got back to his seat just in time for the reprise.

After the show, I took him backstage (I was one of the vocal directors on the show)  He shook hands with Bert whom he could name from the show.  

When he was taken out on the stage itself, behind the closed curtain, his hand gripping mine was tighter and tighter. The following day I asked him why he seemed nervous on the stage itself and he revealed that he was afraid that the curtain would open again and that he “didn’t know the words.” Cute - but in his childlike way, an understanding of the process.

We cannot overlook how important it is for kids to see theatre live, to experience the transformation in themselves when their eyes, ears and imaginations takes them somewhere different.

Nor, how important it is that before, during and after the experience, we share ways of making meaning of it. Before going to the production I sat down with him on a wet Sunday afternoon and we watched clips on YouTube of the songs. We then sat at the piano and sang through those songs from the score. And the day after the event, he was telling us to Step in Time. Step in time. as he beat the rhythm with his feet and mimicked the tap routine.

Music Monday - How often do I need a music lesson?

This year has marked a significant reduction in singing lessons at the tertiary institution I work for. Driven by budget constraints, the students are now provided with fortnightly lessons, where previously they were weekly. Furthermore, there are a number of non-teaching weeks in each semester (rehearsal, production and performance weeks) when classes are cancelled, so, in fact, the fortnight’s gap between lessons often becomes several weeks. In 2021 there are a total of 12 lessons per year in the 1st and 2nd years of the bachelor degree and 10 lessons in the 3rd year.

At the same time, in my other workplace, a specialist performing arts high school, there continue to be weekly lessons (40 per year). The irony has not been lost on me when sending home an email to the parents of a student who has missed a lesson – “only 8 more lessons this term – don’t miss any more!”

This strange 2021 dichotomy between my two teaching environments has set me thinking about how many lessons we actually need at the various stages of our training.

As a young child with a live-in piano teaching grandmother, I was used to the pupils turning up at their regular weekly lesson time. I guess the weekly lesson meant that each family’s household calendar was straightforward. Certainly in the beginning stages of learning any instrument (including the voice), regular lessons ensure that mistakes are not too practised in before correction by the teacher.

In my role as a high school voice teacher, I wear several hats – simultaneously I am teaching vocal technique, music literacy, interpretation skills, to name a few. The students need the weekly contact to maintain their growth and development.

In the tertiary environment, our 1st year students come from a variety of musical backgrounds. Because they are music theatre students, their individual skill levels vary. Some are strong dancers and inexperienced singers. Occasionally I have had a student with a prior degree in voice. The so-called triple threat encompasses singing, acting and dancing and no one starts the degree with equal skills in all three – I mean, why would they bother to do the course? It is very frustrating to be limited in how much instruction we can offer the beginners, who really need correction and guidance in the studio on a weekly basis.

If a reduction in practical training is to be a thing of the future, how can we fill the gaps?

Students could, of course, seek private teachers outside of the institution. The obvious benefit is the increased number of lessons. The potential downside is differing teacher approaches, which could be confusing in the early stages of training.

Technology offers some solutions. Although I am not a huge fan of the zoom music lesson – mainly because of the time lag involved – I do find that students benefit other uses of technology, such as submitting practice/ performance videos for teacher viewing and feedback. Is technology the way of the future here?

However, one thing that becomes clearer to me with every passing year is this – unless there is an investment in significant practice routines by the student, the number and frequency of lessons is irrelevant. A student who doesn’t practice will make as little progress with weekly, fortnightly, or even monthly lessons. But a student with good practice habits is going to progress faster with more regular instruction. Your thoughts?

Music Monday - Which layer of the music do you hear best?

A couple of weeks ago I attended a singing concert given by our graduating class of acting students. It is a class that I have taught for the past 25 years, and passed up this year as the start of a general reducing of my teaching hours. 

For past concerts I have been the accompanist and this time I was in the audience enjoying the whole experience. A couple of observations surprised me. For a start, I found that my attention kept straying to the pianist – despite compelling story-telling from the singers concerned. Was part of me wishing I was still on the piano stool? Or was it the fact that the accompanist is one of our finest local pianists? Or something else?

One of the challenges in training classes of acting students to sing is that there is a wide range of natural ability, experience and inclination present. This group were all strong at the story-telling aspect of singing, a couple had pitch issues and several are all round strong singers. With the last category, I was more able to appreciate the whole tapestry of their song – text on melody and the harmonic layers of the accompaniment.

In the week which followed, I was in one of my secondary school singing classes, but for once the students were silent. They were completing a written ‘marking up the score’ task in preparation for some sight-singing. In nearby rooms the faint sounds of clarinet and violin lessons could be heard. One of the students commented on how distracting the sounds were. Another said that she always likes to hear the background lessons when we are quiet in our singing class. Someone else noticed that the violin and clarinet clashed with each other but yet another student remarked that she thought it sounded like a really interesting piece of (unintentional) music. At this point a student, who had been intensely focussed on figuring out the solfa for the sight-singing piece, looked up and asked, “What are you talking about? I don’t hear anything.”

We can never really know what audiences hear when they listen to music. For example, that wonderful, evocative wash of sound in so many piano concerti of the Romantic period is created by the harmonic structure. We hum the tunes, but we inwardly hear the harmonies from both piano and orchestra.

How can we submit to the complete tapestry of music without our own preferences (and prejudices?) distracting?

Is it easier for audiences without music training to appreciate the whole concert experience?

These are my current preoccupying thoughts.