-- [ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ] Eric Ruske gave a Masterclass today, Saturday, at the Levine School of Music in Washington, DC, and a similar class yesterday at the Department Music, University of Maryland, College Park. Here is a summary of his advice from today's class for a successful public performance:
Teaching points: --Breathing is the basic element to good playing. One hint--practice breathing through an empty toilet paper roll. Deep breathing helps overcome nervousness. --Stand up for concert performing, since it is a public place, not a practice room. Presentation is everything for a soloist, so you must gook good. --The horn and mouthpiece are critical, not the kind of horn. --Know who wrote the piece and why, to guide interpretation and educate the audience. --Engage the audience, look at them, bow, acknowledge applause, and act professionally. --Express the character of a piece, but do not be afraid to make a mistake. There is always room for improvement based on critical listening. --For ensemble work, listening to string quartet performance is important to hear blend and related performance techniques. --Show you enjoy your playing and bring out the joy in the music. --Don't worry about the outcome of the performance, keep it simple and leave the ego out of it. Take risks. --Singing the song to indicate expression and breathing and phrasing. --Play along with recordings of concertos and orchestral pieces, using headphones. For the recital portion he played: --Mozart, Sonata for violin and piano, in B-flat, K.378, memorized transposed reading direct from the score. --Schumann, Phantasiestueke, op. 73, for violin and piano, again, direct from the score. Three horn pieces: Strauss Nocturno; Monti, Csardas; and Kette (sp??), a Danish composer, Intrada. These performances were all amazing. Bill Harwood Washington, DC _______________________________________________ Horn mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://music.memphis.edu/mailman/listinfo/horn
