Conducting Class Day Number 4

Sunday the 6th of April. Today was the last day of the conducting course organized by Pirkanmaan Pinna. The teacher Tuomas Hannikainen was so nice that he arrived earlier (at 9.30) for giving me a feedback session in the morning (as I had to miss the one in the evening due to the premiere of the new-music theatre Bus number 13 with my pieces in it). Hannikainen went through basic techniques with me. Once again I was told that my conducting hand is too stiff and it should be more soft and my movements more organic. Well, I feel that is my main problem in everything; I’m faar to tense and should learn to do things more relaxed.  Today we had a few less minutes conducting (so 20 minutes instead of 23), as we had a concert at 15:00.

The orchestra at Pirkanmaan Pinna 5-6.4.2014.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

Anna-Leena Lumme conducting.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

The orchestra at Pirkanmaan Pinna 5-6.4.2014.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

Our teacher Tuomas Hannikainen observing his conducting student.
Photo © Cecilia Damström

After the concert we first cleaned up the venue and put all chairs into place. Then we had an a few hours long feedback session. Hannikainen was very interested in also hearing what we had learnt during the course. We all had learnt a lot so it was hard to know where to begin.

I asked Hannikainen for what I could improve and one of the things he commented was that I should always be very confident in front of the orchestra. He said it was better today (day 4) than yesterday (day 3). He also said it would be good for me to do general technique exercises in conducting. And he reminded all of us that we always have to be positive and inspiring to the orchestra so that they really want to play with us as their conductor, be eager and excited about the music and so will the orchestra be as well. 

Premiere of Bus Number 13

Still Saturday the 5th of April. Tonight was finally the premiere of the musical theatre show “Bus number 13” at Tampere Hall! As always I arrived in the very last minute, because I was at the conducting course on the other side of Tampere until 18.30, but made it just on time anyway, as always!

I came to think of that I haven’t written what the show is about! Well, I will tell you: It’s about everything and nothing. It’s a bit like a theme with variations. So that means, there is a very simple main story that then is told in very many different ways and from different perspectives. The text is called “Exercises in Style” and is written by the Frenchman Raymond Quineau. We of course used the Finnish translation by Pentti Salmenranta, and a very good translation it is! The story is very simple: “When I got on the bus this morning there was a young man with a long throat and a ugly hat on the bus. He started shouting at a gentleman that he was on purpose stepping on his feet every time the bus stoped. The gentleman didn’t react so the young man went embarrassed to the back of the bus and sat down on a free seat. A few hours later I happened to see this same young man in front of the railway station. He was accompanied by a friend, who recommended him to lift up the highest button on his jacket.” So this story is told in many different ways.

I had chosen to compose five different versions of it. Vapaa mitta that means “Free measure” was a short poem (with free measures as the name says). I made it into a duo between a solo alto singer and a baryton saxophone. Erottelua means “Separation” and was quite a long text explaining first in one phrase how things are, then in the next phrase how things are NOT. But in the end the director made the piece into a wet dream… The director interpretation worked really well and was very funny but good! Anglismeja means “Anglicisms” and was basically Finnish with very many English words put in between. (I chose this text because that is the way I speak sometimes when I’m tired, haha!) Sonetti  was quite a long poem in “Sonnet” measure which I chose to make into a “Shostakovich” influenced parody. Last (but not least) I did Puheen osat which could be translated “Parts of speech”. I did it into a 3 voiced choir song. For seing pictures of the show go to my older blog post “Pre-Premiere of Bus Number 13” or here.

The premiere went really well as well! My mother and father had driven up from Helsinki (200 km) for seeing the show tonight as well as tomorrow’s premiere of Dagbok, and I was very happy they came! Also my German friend Natalja Pfeifer from church, who doesn’t really speak Finnish, came anyway to the show and enjoyed it!

Pouring up the sparkling wine.
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Our clarinetist Andreas Heino, violin player Heidi-Annina Nikkilä and singer Meerika Ahqvist.
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Composer Matti Carter, singers Alina Lehti and Meerika Ahqvist and
composer Matilda Seppälä
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

After the premiere we had a Premiere-shindig right there where we were in the Studio of Tampere Hall and it was really fun! Because we had such a low budjet for the party we had just ordered lots of pizza. Luckily there was also some Indian take away for us vegans! The director Auvo Vihro and the instructing teacher Hannu Pohjannoro held nice thank you speeches, and so did also I and a few others. I thanked the musicans and singers for their open-minded and positive approach to new music and for putting their souls into our music. I also thanked Vihro for the great directing, without nothing would have worked, and I thanked Pohjannoro for organizing something like this and giving us student such a great opportunity!

Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Instructing teacher Hannu Pohjannoro.
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Director Auvo Vihro
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Pianist Jasper Koekoek and cellist Anni Härkönen.
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Contrabassist and composer Roope Mäenpää.
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

We had quite a lot of pizza...
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

We were given roses!
Premiere of Bus number 13 on the 5.4.2014. ©C.Damström

At around 12 AM we left the building because the guard wanted to go home. Many people went home, but a few of us continued to the club Ruma. For some reason most of us who didn’t go home at this point had had a bit too much of the sparking wine at the premiere-shindig, so we didn’t stay long. For once in my life I was sensible enough and noticed it was time to go home although it only was 2 AM… 

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!

Pre-Premiere of Bus Number 13

Friday the 4th of April. Today I took a day off, so I slept long and woke up at 13 o’clock! (But yes, I did go to bed yesterday at about 5 AM after finishing the parts for Dagbok…) I am quite exhausted, so I actually did nothing the whole afternoon (except eat lunch).

At  19.00 the musical theatre show Bus number 13, including five of my compositions, had it’s pre-premiere. It went really well and I’m so proud to be part of such a great production! The director Auvo Vihro has done a GREAT job! I had my camera with me so I photographed the whole show (have over 600 pictures!), beneath you can see some of the best ones.

Antti Kerosuo singing Pauli Marttinens "Puhekieltä".
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Tiitus Ylipää, Antti Kerosuo and Alina Lehti
in Tero Lanus "Onomatopoeettisuus".
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Tiitus Ylipää and Alina Lehti
in Pauli Marttinens "Alexandriini".
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

From my song "Anglismeja" with Tiitu Ylipää, Antti Kerosuo and Meerika Ahqvist.
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

From my song "Vapaa-mitta" with Andreas Heino and Alina Lehti.
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

From my song "Sonetti" with Alina Lehti, Meerika Ahqvist and Antti Kerosuo.
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

All four singers! In Roope Mäenpääs "Oodi".
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

From my song "Anglismeja" in a easy busride with bus number 13.
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Meerika Ahqvist in my song "Erottelua".
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Things getting a bit hot in my song "Erottelua"...
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

Meerika Ahqvist in my song "Erottelua" with Tiitus Ylipää and Alina Lehti at her sides.
Bus number 13 pre-premiere 4.4.14 ©Cecilia Damström

More photos can be found here.

After the show everybody was in a hurry to get home. I called Matilda who didn’t come to the pre-premiere, because she has had a flu since Monday… So I visited her and we drank tee and I showed her the photos and before we knew it, three hours had past and it was 00.30 o’clock and time to go home. I’m quite excited about the premiere tomorrow!

Pedagogic Seminars

Thursday March 4th. This day began at 9 with a three-hour pedagogical forum about “corporate health and wellbeing” (in Finnish “työhyvinvointi”). This pedagogical seminar was exceptional because the whole staff, both teachers and office staff, had to attend this same seminar with us students, so Pyynikkisali was quite crowded today. As part of my thesis is about corporate health and wellbeing (työhyvintvointi) I found this topic rather interesting, although very much what was said was common knowledge. In these times of restricted economical means it was good that both the seminar holder as well as teachers and pupils talked and commented on how important it is that leading staff keep their other staff informed about what is going on and what the economical situation is, transparency helps keeping  up the team-spirit in these situations. Also the head of the music department was sitting in the seminar and at times looked slightly tense…

Other self evident things that were talked about was how important it is to greet people at work. There has been research done that when the boss stops saying good morning to you for a while, you most likely are the next one to be sacked. Moreover, if you don’t get a “good morning” from your colleagues, it means you aren’t noticed, and you start to feel unnoticed and unimportant. So such a trivial thing as greeting people in the morning is a surprisingly important factor for a good spirit at work and keeping up the work motivation. Self evident but a good to be reminded about (at least in Finland).

After the seminar I had lunch at the student restaurant (on Pyynikkitie 2 a full lunch (including salad and bread) only costs 1,66 euros if you have a valid student card!) and then headed to the main campus of TAMK, where we had our last pedagogy seminar for this year and where we all students had to have their group presentations. We had prepared a presentation about “the hidden curriculum” together with my classmates Lotta Harju and Anu Mattila. I find it such a interesting (and somewhat depressing) topic, so I want to write more about it in a separate blog post.

After the three-hour lecture I got my regular bag of organic vegetables from Runsaudensarvi. I’m subscribing the vegetable bag, and it comes every second week. I get a huge bag filled with a variety of regularly changing organic vegetables, fruits and salad for only 20 euros! They also sell organic nuts and other things for vegans, and you get a 5% discount of all normal prized things with a student card. After that I went home and made dinner, took a long nap and then headed back to the composition studio.

A peek of the last movement of the orchestrated version of my song cycle Dagbok.
Forgetting a nuance in one voice happens so easily when you have so much going on in the score!

I had to get the score as well as all the parts fixed today of the orchestrated version of Dagbok, as we have again got Pirkanmaa Pinna's conducting course during the weekend and on Sunday a concert where Dagbok will be performed! I thought it would be faster this time, as I already did the parts once and only had to correct them. And I guess I was right in a way… This time I was ready by 4 AM, so about 70 min earlier than last time….  Still, I have been fixing the parts etc for about 18 hours this week! But I think the nap in the afternoon was my saviour, this time I had no problems staying awake at least! And tomorrow I’m going to take a day off! So I’m going to sleep long! Yay!

Bus Number 13 Rehearsals and PMO composition concert

Wednesday the 2nd of April. The day began with my piano class with Risto Kyrö at 9 AM. We are now preparing the pieces I need to play in case I get invited for the entrance exams for masters at the Sibelius Academy. I’m going to play Bach’s Prelude in e minor (from the first book of WTK), the last movement of Beethovens pathetic sonata and the prelude “La Puerta del Vino” by Debussy. I have played the Bach prelude a few years ago, so I have already quite a clear opinion about how I want to play it. But Kyrö didn’t really approve of my version at all. And I didn’t approve of his version either. I actually found it really amusing, I felt like a little stubborn child who simply was saying “no!”. Well, it’s hard to give in when the piece is dear to you and you feel you know exactly how you want to play it. So all lesson we were discussing back and forth and didn’t really come to any conclusion other than that I said “okay, I can try it your way, although I don’t approve.”

After piano class I went to the composition studio for correcting the orchestra score of Dagbok. During the conducting course last weekend we found loads of small mistakes. So I spent about 4 hours today looking through the score really carefully and drawing in correction with a pencil pen in  my printed version.

After that I headed to Tampere Hall for seing the rehersals of Bus number 13. Unfortunately I just came there at the end of their run through, so I only saw the last 3 pieces. But it looked great! After the run through the director Auvo Vihro was giving feedback and everyone was so tired. There fore these photos, where everyone looks really unmotivated and tired, after an almost 7 hour rehersal. But I have to say; what a great and motivated team! It's been so much fun working with all of them!

Our tired team. Roope Mäenpää (cb), Heidi-Annina Nikkilä (vln) , Eero Kokkonen (perc)
and Anni Härkönen (vcl). Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Singer Alina Lehti listening to Vihro. Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Singer Meerika Ahlqvist looking exceptionally tired after 7h rehearsal.
Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Contrabass player and composer Roope Mäenpää paying attention to Vihros words.
 Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Clarinetist and saxophone player Andreas Heino listening to Vihro
while Roope puts away his contrabass.
Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

An exceptionally tired singer Antti Kerosuo, in the background Anni Härkönen.
Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

Singer Meerika Ahlqvist checking if the shoe broke during rehearsals.
Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

An energetic Auvo Vihro is explaining what can be improved to a listening Antti Kerosuo.
Rehearsal at Tampere Hall 2.4.2014. ©C.Damström

After the rehearsal ended I went together with my classmate composers Jarkko Pajunen and Timo Kittilä to listen to a composition concert of the children and teenagers studying music at Pirkanmaan musiikkiopisto (Pirmanmaa music institute). It was a very nice concert, where the children had in a workshop them selves written poems (about all kind of random things) and then other children had composed music inspired by the poems. The audience was asked not to applause in-between, so it was a nice whole concert. The audience applauded very much at the end instead. This same concert will also be performed on the 13th of April as a part of the Tampere Family Day.

After the concert I headed back to the composition studio and continued correcting the score for my orchestrated version of Dagbok. But I only stayed until 00.30 o’clock, because tomorrow I have classes beginning at 9 in the morning. 

Turning Pages for Risto Kyrö

Tuesday the 1st of April. Today my piano teacher Risto Kyrö played a concert here in Tampere Pyynikkisali. He performed Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise together with the baritone Aarne Pelkonen. Must be named that Kyrö played on a fortepiano, which was rented and brought to Tampere only for this concert. This was actually a bit like a practise concert for next Friday, when they are going to perform the same concert in Helsinki as the last of four concerts that together form the artistic part of Kyrö’s upcoming doctorate degree. Risto Kyrö asked me yesterday if I could turn pages for him in the concert, which I of course did with joy!

Aarne Pelkonen

Risto Kyrö

 In the morning I came to the computer class room for printing the newest version of “Min Gud” and Matilda looked at me in surprise and asked “Why are you so pretty today??” on which I answered “Why thank you, I guess I can’t help it!” but then added “I’m turning pages at tonight’s concert” on which Matilda replied “Ahaa! I knew there was a reason!”. Good friends like Matilda are so much fun!

After that I once again had a short meeting with the choir conducter Markus Yli-Jokipii, during which he gave me more feedback and ideas what to improve in my piece “Min Gud”.  After that I had a meeting with my classmates Lotta Harju (violinist) and Anu Mattila (singer and cantor) and we prepared together our upcoming presentation for our next pedagogy class about “The hidden curriculum”. (By “hidden curriculum”  (piilo opetussuunitelma in Finnish) you mean “everything you are supposed to learn at school (such as for instance social norms, behaviour, how power hierarchy works and how to become a good citizen), which isn’t officially written into the curriculum, but which you are supposed to learn between the lines.)

After these meetings I went to Pyynikkisali for listening to Kyrö and Pelkonen practising (and for turning pages). I was glad I was with in the practise, because for instance I didn’t remember that “Der Leiermann” is the last song of the cycle and got up for turning pages. I’m very happy that didn’t happen in the concert! And it is always nice to know how the other pianist wants their pages turned; rather to early than to late or the other way round etc.

After this I had time for a quick lunch before I went to give piano class to my “practise pupil” Jani Laaksonen. It is sometimes a bit funny being his teacher, because he has already graduated from composition and choral conducting and is now studying his third degree in music (singing teacher) an moreover he also has a degree from the theatre academy in sound- and lightdesign. He was my tutor when I began to study composition in 2008, and now I’m his piano teacher. He is a very busy man, so I give him lots of short technical exercises (Czerny’s 160 short etudes) and scales, but also one lyric piece at a time (such as Sibelius Kuusi/Granen/Spruce), so that he keeps his singing piano tone that he has achieved in the past year (when he was studying piano with my friend Hannele Ahola).

After the lesson I practised piano for a while, then changed to black clothes for the concert tonight. The concert started a bit late, because the ticket queue was so long, which was a good reason! Being so close up I noticed how nervous my teacher Kyrö was before the concert. It is rather soothing and nice to know that even the great professionals are nervous on stage.

The concert went really well! (And also my page-turning went better than in the morning, haha!) But it was a slight pitty I couldn’t really listen properly to the complete picture, as I was so concentrated on turning pages. But I have to say there are quite a few fun ideas in Schubert’s Winterreise, I will have to take a closer look at them some time soon (after graduating, that is)! The fortepiano also was really nice to listen to and its felt-pedal sounds so soft and great! Everyone came and thanked Kyrö and Pelkonen and surprisingly many people came also and thanked me (even the next day), which surprised me!

After the concert I went back to the composition studio and continued re-scoring Min Gud for a while. But Markus said he thinks it’s better not to send it to my publisher before Näsin Ääni has practised it for a while, because I might want to make corrections, so now I’m not in such a hurry anymore. I sent of the first and third (last) movements tonight to Markus, so that Näsin Ääni can practise them already tomorrow at their reheral. Now I need a good night’s sleep!