Michael Cooke

String Theory p.13

Rehearsing my guided improvisation compositions is always a bit of a challenge at the first rehearsal. Most of the confusion stems from the unfamiliarity of the orchestral musician to improvisation, so the first question is always what am I supposed to do? Now the other bit of confusion come from the notation style which is also rather unique. I always write a ledger to explain the notation but many time the musician fail to read it before the first rehearsal and I waste time reading to them. I also noticed that old musicians seem more confused by none standard notation, they don’t seem to be a flexible in excepting new concepts. It is to be expected that the first rehearsal of a guide improvisation piece does not go to well as the musician need some time to figure out and to explore ideas that what will work. It one of the reasons why it is important to rehearse a piece like this, though it is equally important to make sure you don’t over rehearse so it does not be come stale. If the musicians are getting the concepts quickly I tend to cut short rehearsals, so ideas stay fresh. On the first rehearsal of String Theory, musicians where really just getting there feet wet trying to figure out what they can do, that included the conductor. I’m going to  have the conductor, Dr. Mark Alburger (who is a veteran conductor of my music) to conduct more, more clues and encouragement to the musicians then just the marking the sections like I asked him to do the first time. Hopefully at tonight’s rehearsal people will be more comfortable playing this work and better performance results. I think I’m not going to play this time and just listen to better evaluate what is going on.

Tags: in progress

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