Finally our biggest project of the semester took place on April 28, 2007 at Frederic Loewe Theatre in NYC. It was a concert to celebrate two important professors at NYU: Dr. Denu Ghezzo who was retiring from his long teaching career at the university and Dr. Ron Mazurek who passed away unexpectedly two days before the concert.
The concert was very beautiful and touching. Everyone participated in his or her best way and contributed to the success of the event. I learned many things that day as one of the camera crew, from taping all the cables down to the floor so that nobody would trip over them to setting a camera so that people would not be walking in front of it but behind it. I realized how much dedication and concentration it needed to set up the audio and visual system in the theatre. We were constantly running across and in and out of the theatre, trying to solve problems.
Yes, the biggest lesson I learned that day was that there would always be problems. But important thing is to go along with those problems, if they are unsolvable. The V Brick at UCI failed to work that day, preventing us from having the high speed I2 connection. Although we had to change our program and we could not have an interactive session between audiences in NYU and UCI, our effort to do the best we could then made the event still highly valuable. I believe that the audience enjoyed the improvisations very much.
I was in charge of interviewing people as they entered the theatre and documenting overall the event. I was paired up with Nicolle and I think we worked very well together that evening. When we started to interview, asking people how they knew Dr. Ghezzo and to share their memories, at first they were somewhat hesitant to be interviewed. However, when we started asking people to congratulate Dr. Ghezzo, they were more than happy to share their words with us. In the end we had about 2/3 of the audience in the video. During the concert, I focused on the audience to capture their response to the performances by walking around the theatre. It was incredible to know how involved the audience was to every single performance, and to realize how much energy it provided to the whole production. I suggested to Nicolle to go backstage to take closeup video of the performers from behind, remembering some documentation movies I've seen of stage productions, which I thought was very effective.
Yes, we were exhausted from being there since 9am and dealing with unfamiliar problems after problems, but our facial expressions were filled with proud and achievement. We were a team and no longer a bunch of aloof graduate students. All the music, art, and dance we had that night were empowered by people's strong love and appreciation for those two important professors.
After all of this, I think now I am an expert on setting up a camera as well as taping the cables down and removing the tape from cables!
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
On Sight Reading
I love the fact that we can interact with each other inside and outside the class time and try to answer each other's quetions. The other day I ran into Tom Beyer and he gave great tips on sight reading. He overheard me at one of the improv sessions when I was expressing to another student my difficulties of improvising and sight reading.
He said the key to improve my sight reading skills is to devote a certain amount of time everyday only to sight reading. Stopping everytime I make a mistake is habitual, he said, and instead of practicing in a right way, I've been practicing in a wrong way: stopping in the middle of the music. Of course if I am perfecting a piece of music I need to stop and practice passages over and over again till they are right, but practicing sight reading is different from perfecting a piece. I told him also that my eyes cannot capture many notes at once, they tend to only look at only a few and that my fingers often cannot measure intervals without my eyes looking at them.
So he gave me three main practice methods according to my needs.
1. Read a new piece of music and never stop no matter what happens
2. Read a single line of notes to expand my horizontal view
3. Play something I know in the dark
These are great insights and I have been devoting about 30 minutes everyday since. It's going to take some time and I will have to be patient with myself; however I believe that this practice menu will help me enhance my sight reading abilities, as Tom Beyer assured it would.
I have noticed that people who are great sight readers are also great improvisers. This may be because they can already hear in their head what's coming while they read a written score. So I hope by practicing sight reading I will also help develop my improvisation abilities. I look forward to the progress as well as the process in weeks, months, and years to come.
He said the key to improve my sight reading skills is to devote a certain amount of time everyday only to sight reading. Stopping everytime I make a mistake is habitual, he said, and instead of practicing in a right way, I've been practicing in a wrong way: stopping in the middle of the music. Of course if I am perfecting a piece of music I need to stop and practice passages over and over again till they are right, but practicing sight reading is different from perfecting a piece. I told him also that my eyes cannot capture many notes at once, they tend to only look at only a few and that my fingers often cannot measure intervals without my eyes looking at them.
So he gave me three main practice methods according to my needs.
1. Read a new piece of music and never stop no matter what happens
2. Read a single line of notes to expand my horizontal view
3. Play something I know in the dark
These are great insights and I have been devoting about 30 minutes everyday since. It's going to take some time and I will have to be patient with myself; however I believe that this practice menu will help me enhance my sight reading abilities, as Tom Beyer assured it would.
I have noticed that people who are great sight readers are also great improvisers. This may be because they can already hear in their head what's coming while they read a written score. So I hope by practicing sight reading I will also help develop my improvisation abilities. I look forward to the progress as well as the process in weeks, months, and years to come.
Audience Becomes Art
In our I2 class we have been discussing and sharing ideas for the April 28th concert between NYU and UCI. One of the plans is to film the people as they enter the Loewe Theatre and show the images on the main screen during the concert to include them as part of the production.
When I was reading the New York Times a couple of days ago this article caught me eyes: "Art's Audiences Become Artworks Themselves." It tells about an artist who created artworks with the same concept. Thomas Struth's works at Marian Goodman Gallery show photographs of spectators at the museum looking at various artworks. Pictures are quite amusing; some crossing their arms, some listening closely to the audio guide, some taking pictures---all of them are unaware that they are being photographed.
How eye catching these works are! They provide a whole different perspective to the notion of visual art.
The article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/arts/design/10stru.html
When I was reading the New York Times a couple of days ago this article caught me eyes: "Art's Audiences Become Artworks Themselves." It tells about an artist who created artworks with the same concept. Thomas Struth's works at Marian Goodman Gallery show photographs of spectators at the museum looking at various artworks. Pictures are quite amusing; some crossing their arms, some listening closely to the audio guide, some taking pictures---all of them are unaware that they are being photographed.
How eye catching these works are! They provide a whole different perspective to the notion of visual art.
The article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/10/arts/design/10stru.html
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Art of Improvisation 3
Our first major improvisation session with UCI took place last Tuesday. The class was divided into two groups; one group worked from Tower Building on Lafayette Street and the other worked from Avery Room in the Bobst Library. The video conference connecting three sites was made possible by ichat. Improvisation between two NYU groups worked out wonderfully; there was great musical energy shared by synthesizer, piano, toy piano, flute,and voice. Although there seemed to be an audio problem between NY and California and thus the UCI dancers did not pick up on our music, I think the session was very successful, at least between two NYU groups.
So here I'm going to report my performance in the improvisation session. As I made a promise last week, I was able to fight of my fear and just start playing simple musical ideas on the toy piano. Some were good, others not so inspirational (and the great thing was that I could blame the toy piano for its unevenly constructed keys). So far so good. Then I went on to the real piano and started playing something...then it suddenly became so hard because the sounds were much more exposed than those of the toy piano. But I didn't stop trying there. I thought I would just forget about all the unintentional dissonances I was making and would just focus on the musical gesture. I concentrated on my imaginative phrases and sounds and just went for them. The outcome was not that great but I think I did very well for my first major improvisation session!
As I listened to the sounds of other musicians I noticed there are no right notes or right rhythms; they simply play what they felt at a given moment. Next class I am going to explore further on improvisation, maybe introduce some dancing as well, and try different directions to expand my possibilities of music making.
So here I'm going to report my performance in the improvisation session. As I made a promise last week, I was able to fight of my fear and just start playing simple musical ideas on the toy piano. Some were good, others not so inspirational (and the great thing was that I could blame the toy piano for its unevenly constructed keys). So far so good. Then I went on to the real piano and started playing something...then it suddenly became so hard because the sounds were much more exposed than those of the toy piano. But I didn't stop trying there. I thought I would just forget about all the unintentional dissonances I was making and would just focus on the musical gesture. I concentrated on my imaginative phrases and sounds and just went for them. The outcome was not that great but I think I did very well for my first major improvisation session!
As I listened to the sounds of other musicians I noticed there are no right notes or right rhythms; they simply play what they felt at a given moment. Next class I am going to explore further on improvisation, maybe introduce some dancing as well, and try different directions to expand my possibilities of music making.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Multimedia Opera Production 2
So opera nowadays is getting more and more into using multimedia. Brooklyn Academy of Music introduced another multimedia "Magic Flute" with use of video images by a South African artist William Kentridge, as New York Times reports. Here is the description of the production in the article:
"The result is an exuberant dialogue between drawing and music, a three-dimensional work of art with video projected across and around the human figures onstange. Sometimes the animations echo the characters' thoughts; mathematical diagrams stand in for the teachings of Sarastro and his priests. Sometimes they reflect the music, with white lines reaching upward during a chorus, like fireworks. Sometimes they form antic glosses, suddenly coalescing into birds, a line, a dancing rhinoceros....Mr. Kentridges's "magic Flute" is based on the metaphor of the early camera, using the palette of a film negative, white on black, to reflect the opera's shifting presentation of good and evil."
As the technology advances it is quite common today to see musical works with mixture of different media. Many opera productions have attracted artists to collaborate. Opera is not just music; it has drama, dance, visual art, anything you can think of as a form of art. I am blown away every time I go to the Met to see an opera to find how creative the production can be. Opera is one huge art creation and there is no limit to how much more art it can contain. I am curious to see what direction opera is headed in the near future.
Article:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40F17F63F5B0C7A8CDDAD0894DF404482
"The result is an exuberant dialogue between drawing and music, a three-dimensional work of art with video projected across and around the human figures onstange. Sometimes the animations echo the characters' thoughts; mathematical diagrams stand in for the teachings of Sarastro and his priests. Sometimes they reflect the music, with white lines reaching upward during a chorus, like fireworks. Sometimes they form antic glosses, suddenly coalescing into birds, a line, a dancing rhinoceros....Mr. Kentridges's "magic Flute" is based on the metaphor of the early camera, using the palette of a film negative, white on black, to reflect the opera's shifting presentation of good and evil."
As the technology advances it is quite common today to see musical works with mixture of different media. Many opera productions have attracted artists to collaborate. Opera is not just music; it has drama, dance, visual art, anything you can think of as a form of art. I am blown away every time I go to the Met to see an opera to find how creative the production can be. Opera is one huge art creation and there is no limit to how much more art it can contain. I am curious to see what direction opera is headed in the near future.
Article:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40F17F63F5B0C7A8CDDAD0894DF404482
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Art of Improvisation 2
During the last I2 class, we had a connection with UCI using V Brick and i chat connection between NYU, UCI, and Vancuver. As we discussed our possible issues and materials for April 28 I2 concert, we had a great improvisation session between NYU flutist and UCI dancer. I was inspired by the improvisation and wanted to participate, however I was not able to then. I was too shy to get up and start dancing. Why? I thought I was not going to do well and was afraid I would be lost in the middle of it. Part of me wanted to try and see what would happen, another part of me didn't want to humiliate myself. But at the end of class I realized that I disappointed myself, for not trying at all. Who cares if I don't do as well as I want to? Nobody but one perhaps: myself. It was not the crowd that was putting pressure on me then, but it was myself.
So I got to think about art of improvisation again. Maybe I need to try doing something simple, something within my capability. Act of trying is the first step and it must be contributing to creating of art already. First thing I should do is to overcome my fear. Next time I am given a chance, I will not worry about failing and will only focus on what I can do to make improvisation happen. I shall see how I succeed in the next class.
So I got to think about art of improvisation again. Maybe I need to try doing something simple, something within my capability. Act of trying is the first step and it must be contributing to creating of art already. First thing I should do is to overcome my fear. Next time I am given a chance, I will not worry about failing and will only focus on what I can do to make improvisation happen. I shall see how I succeed in the next class.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Multimedia Opera Production
From March 29 till April 1, 2007, NYU presented four performances of Mozart's opera, "Magic Flute" featuring the school's talented vocalists and instrumentalists. I attended the last performance and sat in the first row of the Loewe Theatre.
The production was innovative in that the singers sang while looking at the conductor through a monitor that was set in the middle of the theatre. There was no orchestra pit, so the orchestra was placed in the back of the stage behind the stage setting, completely invisible from the audience. I was surprised to learn later that there was a slight delay in the video and the singers needed to adjust their entrances accordingly. During the performance I was not aware of it. The singers must have practiced with the delay so that they knew how soon they had to start and end their phrases.
The production inspired me in terms of incorporating technology directly into the performance. In the same setting, the orchestra can be playing in another site. I would love to see some collaborations between vocalists and orchestras from different parts of the world using I2 connection. The Met singers with Vienna Philharmonic, Kirov Opera singers with NY Philharmonic, etc....all performing live from their hometowns!
The production was innovative in that the singers sang while looking at the conductor through a monitor that was set in the middle of the theatre. There was no orchestra pit, so the orchestra was placed in the back of the stage behind the stage setting, completely invisible from the audience. I was surprised to learn later that there was a slight delay in the video and the singers needed to adjust their entrances accordingly. During the performance I was not aware of it. The singers must have practiced with the delay so that they knew how soon they had to start and end their phrases.
The production inspired me in terms of incorporating technology directly into the performance. In the same setting, the orchestra can be playing in another site. I would love to see some collaborations between vocalists and orchestras from different parts of the world using I2 connection. The Met singers with Vienna Philharmonic, Kirov Opera singers with NY Philharmonic, etc....all performing live from their hometowns!
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Art of Improvisation
In last class, there was an interesting discussion on the value of improvisation. It made me think about the importance of improvisation as a musician, as it is certainly not my forte at this point.
John Crawford from UCI explained that a lot of preparation is required for an improvisation work. The aesthetic experience of an improvised work is to hear or see the unplanned and spontaneous things. But there is a structure to it, and improvisation happens within that structure.
Dr. Ghezzo from NYU commented that the art of improvisation has been lost in musical training nowadays and argued that it is a very important tradition that must be continued. He reminded us that great composers and performers of the past in Western music, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, among others were excellent improvisers as well.
What is the importance of improvisation? I looked it up in "The Art of Teaching" edited by Denes Agay and found an essay on the subject. Sylvisa Rabinof in her essay says "Improvisation is the embodiment of rhythm, melody, harmony, and form---the basic elements of music. It synthesizes the human factors that enter into the creative function: experience, imagination, intuition." She also explains, "One may ask whether this can produce great work; the answer is to be found in the achievements of the past. Equally significant is the fact that improvisation was not only used but taught."
Why is it that teaching students to improvise has been neglected? Rabinof says, "about a hundred years ago the art went into decline. Extemporization in the world of so-called serious music became neglected, it not lost." It is no surprise then, that I have never been taught to improvise. Although I feel that I am advanced enough to do some spontaneous playing at the piano, I am still hesitant to play by ear except very simple melodies and harmonies. The discussion on improvisation made me realize that there is something to be done, and every soon, I will find a way to teach myself how to improvise using more advanced melody, rhythm, harmony and form.
John Crawford from UCI explained that a lot of preparation is required for an improvisation work. The aesthetic experience of an improvised work is to hear or see the unplanned and spontaneous things. But there is a structure to it, and improvisation happens within that structure.
Dr. Ghezzo from NYU commented that the art of improvisation has been lost in musical training nowadays and argued that it is a very important tradition that must be continued. He reminded us that great composers and performers of the past in Western music, such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, among others were excellent improvisers as well.
What is the importance of improvisation? I looked it up in "The Art of Teaching" edited by Denes Agay and found an essay on the subject. Sylvisa Rabinof in her essay says "Improvisation is the embodiment of rhythm, melody, harmony, and form---the basic elements of music. It synthesizes the human factors that enter into the creative function: experience, imagination, intuition." She also explains, "One may ask whether this can produce great work; the answer is to be found in the achievements of the past. Equally significant is the fact that improvisation was not only used but taught."
Why is it that teaching students to improvise has been neglected? Rabinof says, "about a hundred years ago the art went into decline. Extemporization in the world of so-called serious music became neglected, it not lost." It is no surprise then, that I have never been taught to improvise. Although I feel that I am advanced enough to do some spontaneous playing at the piano, I am still hesitant to play by ear except very simple melodies and harmonies. The discussion on improvisation made me realize that there is something to be done, and every soon, I will find a way to teach myself how to improvise using more advanced melody, rhythm, harmony and form.
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