Musica delle Donne
Thursday was the premiere performance of my vocal piece, When my Sorrow was Born. Everyone asks me how I thought it went. And I hate this question. Because as I sit there and listen, if anyone was watching me, they'd have seen me wince and cringe through every mistake. That's just what I do, at every premiere I've had. Now, this piece was kind of thrown together last minute, and so all things considered, it went pretty well. But am I happy with it? Well, honestly, I want a better performance, I want to hear it done with fewer (or even no) mistakes.
Mistakes or no, it still amazingly beneficial to hear it with live players, hear how loud certain techniques can be played, hear color combinations, find out where the singer gets covered and where she doesn't (incidently, the one spot I was worried about balance wasn't a problem at all. But some other parts were).
It makes me wonder, small though the audience was (perhaps should not hold concerts during CMEA conference time) I got many compliments. Are they just being nice? Or am I the only one who could tell the singer got two bars ahead of everyone? Is this just a case of me knowing the music too well?
As for the other music on the concert, I liked Nancy's piece, was completely unimpressed by the Chen Yi piece, and was confused by one of the other pieces...can't remember the name of the composer, but she studied with Vaughan Williams at some point, which I heard in a few bars, but otherwise it was a little too cheesy for me, even for that period. But the other movement was kind of cool and groovy. It just seemed...odd.
In my last lesson, I argued with Hdez over rhythms and how singers will actually read them. And I love the singer for my piece and all, her sound was great, but rhythm was not her strong point, and now I understand what he was saying. So in my Gloria revisions, I'm rewriting the meters to try and make them easier to read. Though, I have an orchestra reading in a couple weeks and the rhythms are harder to read than that. I'm kind of nervous about that now.
So how did my piece go? Alright, all things considered. Certainly good for me to hear live, nonetheless.
Mistakes or no, it still amazingly beneficial to hear it with live players, hear how loud certain techniques can be played, hear color combinations, find out where the singer gets covered and where she doesn't (incidently, the one spot I was worried about balance wasn't a problem at all. But some other parts were).
It makes me wonder, small though the audience was (perhaps should not hold concerts during CMEA conference time) I got many compliments. Are they just being nice? Or am I the only one who could tell the singer got two bars ahead of everyone? Is this just a case of me knowing the music too well?
As for the other music on the concert, I liked Nancy's piece, was completely unimpressed by the Chen Yi piece, and was confused by one of the other pieces...can't remember the name of the composer, but she studied with Vaughan Williams at some point, which I heard in a few bars, but otherwise it was a little too cheesy for me, even for that period. But the other movement was kind of cool and groovy. It just seemed...odd.
In my last lesson, I argued with Hdez over rhythms and how singers will actually read them. And I love the singer for my piece and all, her sound was great, but rhythm was not her strong point, and now I understand what he was saying. So in my Gloria revisions, I'm rewriting the meters to try and make them easier to read. Though, I have an orchestra reading in a couple weeks and the rhythms are harder to read than that. I'm kind of nervous about that now.
So how did my piece go? Alright, all things considered. Certainly good for me to hear live, nonetheless.
posted by Jessica at
12:24 PM
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