“Old Dogs” Can Learn “New Tricks”! Who Knew? Thomas McCauley
John J. Cali School of Music, Montclair State University
Mccauleyt@mail.montclair.edu
was “stuck.” Stuck in my ways of thinking, in my ways of teaching, and in my ways of conducting. And I knew it. What I didn’t know was how to get “unstuck.” It was time for a change, but what kind of change? After attempting some of my past methods of moving through my inertia that, this time, produced no real improvement in my situation, I decided to leap outside my comfort zone to search for answers. So, I went to Bulgaria. Yes, Bulgaria. It was my “Ameri-
I
can Band Director in Bulgaria” ex- perience that rocked me from my safety net and the mind-numbing boredom of my cozy professional life, and gave me the insight and motivation to move forward. Why Bulgaria, you ask? Because that hap- pened to be the site of the 2016 International Conducting Workshop Festival. The International Conduct- ing Workshop Festival is held each summer in locations throughout the world. A vast majority of its par- ticipants are orchestral conductors, mostly young orchestral conductors, from around the globe who come to the festival to deepen their knowl- edge of the orchestral repertoire, re- fine their conducting technique, and to make professional connections that will serve them well throughout
TEMPO
their careers. This was no place for an aging, college band director with only a surface-level familiarity of or- chestral repertoire. But, if I was to break through the chokehold of apa- thy that had me tightly in its grasp, I had to try something out of the ordi- nary. So, I submitted an application to participate in the festival. Never believing, even for one minute, that I would be accepted to participate, for reasons that are still not entirely clear to me, I was. This particular workshop was especially attractive to me because one of my long-time musical heroes would be one of the teachers at the festival. Maestro Larry Rachleff has been an inspiration to me since I first became aware of him in 1991. I have ob- served dozens of hours of Rachleff’s rehearsals, both in Chicago and Rhode Island, over the course of many years. But, other than having the opportunity to work with him in two wind conducting sympo- sia, I never had the chance to work with him in a setting like the ICWF. The prospect of conducting a pro- fessional orchestra, engaging with repertoire that I’ve never before con- ducted, and doing it all in front of Rachleff (and his colleague, Donald Schleicher, from the University of Illinois) excited and terrified me all at once. It was certainly enough of a
34
motivator to study and prepare the festival repertoire (Brahms, Mozart, and Mahler) to the highest degree I was able.
Armed with as much confidence as someone like me could muster (and still scared to death!), I set off for Eastern Europe. My ten days in Sofia, Bulgaria were simultaneously enlightening, uncomfortable, and exciting. Rachleff’s influence was, as always, incredibly motivating, and the professional musicians—both in the sextet and full orchestra set- ting—were a joy to work with. I learned many lessons, too numer- ous to mention. However, here’s the most important of them. Over the years, areas of my teaching and conducting have im- proved and have become “mine” (as opposed to me trying to be a bad imitation of someone else). This is a good thing, but like all things worth having, it had come at a cost. The price I paid was an imbalance in my use of energy on the podium. I was working hard, to be sure, but not in the most effective and efficient manner. With his hand literally on my shoulder, Rachleff continuously urged me to “calm down”—to use my energy more effectively and ef- ficiently. The professional musicians were a huge help with this, although they probably weren’t aware of it.
OCTOBER 2017
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
