September 2007

In This Issue | Carroll Gonzo

Philip Brunelle, artistic director of VocalEssence in the Twin Cities, has assembled an impressive array of testaments for John Gardner, who is celebrating his 90th birthday. “Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day,” one of Gardner’s many well-known choral compositions, is also the title of this article. The intent of his joyful litany of tributes is to honor Gardner the composer as well as Gardner the man. Brunnelle has identified a host of noted conductors who have compelling insights to offer about him. Contributing conductors include: Sir David Willcocks, Simon Carrington, Stephen Cleobury, Louis Halsey, Earl Rivers, and Philip Brunelle.
Robert Greenlee, who had the good fortune to study conducting under Margaret Hillis, writes

“The Gestural Legacy of Margaret Hillis”. Greenlee took copious notes from her conducting lectures and chronicles his observations of Hillis’s conducting technique. Greenlee’s article should appeal both to the seasoned conductor and to the neophyte.  Greenlee presents Hillis’s view of the sound of the music in her hand, posture and trunk, the three arenas of activity. In addition, he describes and discusses the hand and the baton, clear beat and pattern size, conducting pattern applied to musical styles, and changing baton speed. Greenlee offers an intriguing discussion of Hillis’s work with Otto Werner Mueller regarding the relationship between the ensemble and their response to conducting gestures. The latter part of the article focuses on the left hand, face, head, and the trunk and their function in the art of conducting.

“Experience Choral Music” is the second article in a three-part series by Patrick Freer.  He proposes that choral conducting involves an intricate balance between the needs of singers, the composer’s intent, the demands of the audience, and the personal and aesthetic goals of the conductors. This second article is comprised of quotations from choral conductors relating how they view the experience of singers, their own experiences and how they influence the process of moving through the performance. In examining the singers’ experience, Freer addresses the nature of choral singing; focus on the individual singer, responsibility for the singer’s experience, and goals for the singers.  The conductor’s experience, on the other hand, embraces music as career and passion, collaboration, repertoire choice, rehearsals, relationship with singers, and the challenge of perfection,

Carroll Gonzo

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