Saturday 5 April 2014

Conducting Class Day Number 3


Saturday April 5th. Today the course began first at 14.00 so I had a good night sleep. Because the premiere for the musical theatre production Bus number 13 is tonight, I had to pack a lot with me for quite a long day.

Today it’s time for the second weekend of conducting, this time with Tuomas Hannikainen as our teacher. He also teaches conducting at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. He is not quite as much into technique as Juha Törmä, who was our teacher last week. (Although I heard Hannikainen is quite different, that is to say much stricter with technique with his students at the Academy.) I liked very much his way of teaching. He was a very enthusiastic man who was very exact with us that we show music and expression and what we want to make out of the sheet music we had in front of us.

Again it was very interesting to watch the other pupils Tuomas Kettunen and Hannes Merisaari conduct my song cycle Dagbok. I learn a lot both about conducting as well about how to write (compose) a clearer and better orchestra score! As I mentioned, I have very rarely played in an orchestra (twice as a soloist, and one summer camp playing cello in the youth orchestra led by Anna-Maria Helsing, the times before she was famous). So I sat beside the French horn today and noticed how hard it was to hear the soloist and how you mainly hear the instruments closest to you but not really the whole picture. (Self evident things for orchestra musicians of course.)

As the course began first at 14 o’clock today it also ended much later and I had to leave early, before the feedback session due to the premiere of Bus number 13. It was really a pity I missed the feedback session! But Hannikainen offered he could give me feedback next morning before the course would begin (so that means at 9.30), which was really nice of him!

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