Pedgogical Approaches to Conducting Gesture In
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PEDAGOGICAL APPROACHES TO CONDUCTING GESTURE IN CONTEMPORARY MUSIC Katherine Margaret Kilburn A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS August 2016 Committee: Emily Freeman Brown, Advisor Lara Lengel Graduate Faculty Representative Mary Natvig Robert Satterlee © 2016 Katherine M. Kilburn All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Emily Freeman Brown, Advisor Conducting is non-verbal communication of musical ideas through the use of gestures made by the hands, arms, and body, as well as expressions made by the face. It is at once physical, psychological, mental, and potentially even spiritual, requiring presence, an ability to listen, respond, guide, catalyze, shape, lead, sometimes follow, and most of all, invite and inspire musicians. This document addresses gesture as a manifestation of musical sound and how conductors approach these physical, non-verbal motions to affect musical sound and how they might be interpreted by performers. Using anthropologist Ray Birdwhistell’s Kinesics in Context, and studies by psychologist Paul Ekman and his colleagues, I relate kinesics and categories of non-verbal communication to conducting and the teaching of gesture, and how this non-verbal language communicates musical intention. Through information gleaned from interviews with preeminent American conducting pedagogues as well as my own experience as a student and teacher of conducting, I present several approaches to teaching conducting aimed at helping developing conductors improve and cultivate their craft. I also offer a compilation and expansion of exercises that encourage conductors to maximize their expressive potential and most effectively communicate with their ensemble. Finally, this document addresses how the standard idea of gesture applies to Gerard Grisey’s Partiels from his Espaces Acoustiques and Witold Lutosławski’s Chain 1, taking into account new notational elements. The purpose of this document is to elucidate the gestural language of conducting and the visual aspect of effectively communicated sound, and provide a fresh pedagogical approach to conducting. iv This document is dedicated to my husband Octavio and my daughter Luana. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the many people without whom this document would not exist. Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my committee members Dr. Mary Natvig, Dr. Robert Satterlee, and Dr. Laura Lengel for their guidance and for contributing to my growth as a musician and scholar during my time at Bowling Green State University. I want to especially thank the chair of my committee, Dr. Emily Freeman Brown, not only for her guidance and help with writing this document, but for her years of support during my time as a conducting student at Bowling Green. The opportunities she gave me to conduct the orchestra and the opera, and to teach conducting and score-reading classes gave me invaluable experience that helped make me the conductor and the teacher I am today. I owe a huge debt to the conductors I interviewed for their passion, thoroughness, and contribution to my paper. I would like to thank Kenneth Kiesler, my mentor and teacher from the University of Michigan who sparked in me an enormous passion for conducting and conducting teaching, Robert Porco, who inspired me when I sang under him at Indiana University during my studies there, Dr. Charlene Archibeque, with whom I studied one summer and who motivated me with the transcendent performances of her choirs, Brad Lubman, who brings his experience conducting some of the world’s greatest orchestras to his teaching, Dr. Michael Haithcock, H. Robert Reynolds, and Frank Battisti whose artistry and pedagogy are well-known and respected throughout the Wind Ensemble conducting world, and Vance George whose wisdom I had the opportunity to appreciate during a workshop at Curtis Institute. I would like to thank my amazing parents, Mary and David Wilmer, and Austin and Barbara Kilburn for their help during the final stages of this paper. And lastly, I would like to thank the true loves in my life, my amazing husband Octavio and daughter Luana, for their precious love and support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION ..... ........................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER I. CONDUCTING GESTURE AS MUSICAL SIGN LANGUAGE ............... 5 The Study of Kinesics and How It Relates To Conducting Gesture ......................... 5 Emblems ........................................................................................................... 13 Illustrators ........................................................................................................... 14 Manipulators ........................................................................................................... 16 Regulators ........................................................................................................... 17 Emotional Expressions .............................................................................................. 18 CHAPTER II. CONDUCTING PEDAGOGY AND PRACTICE ....................................... 22 Approaches to Teaching Gesture ............................................................................... 22 Technique and Inspiration: Planning and Practicing Gestures .................................. 25 Balance Between Facial Expression and Hands ........................................................ 27 Demonstrating for Students ....................................................................................... 30 Approach to Teaching Gesture as it Relates to Sound .............................................. 32 Different Styles of Conducting for Different Styles of Music .................................. 33 Left Hand and Right Hand ........................................................................................ 35 “Over-Conducting” vs. “Under-Conducting” ........................................................... 38 Size and Sound Correlation ....................................................................................... 41 Final Thoughts ........................................................................................................... 43 Exercises and Recommendations .............................................................................. 44 1.Reacting in a childlike way to sounds ........................................................ 44 vii 2. Improvise a performance ........................................................................... 46 3. Multiple versions of the same chord ......................................................... 46 4. Resistance exercise .................................................................................... 46 5. Weight exercise ......................................................................................... 47 6. Right hand/left hand independence ........................................................... 47 7. Mime exercises .......................................................................................... 47 8. Green’s relaxation vs. tension ................................................................... 48 9. Conceptual analogies ................................................................................. 48 10. Write a story ............................................................................................ 49 11. Bring in a dance instructor ...................................................................... 49 12. Observe other conductors ........................................................................ 49 Healthy Conducting Dos and Don’ts ......................................................................... 50 CHAPTER III. CASE STUDIES: TWO CONTEMPORARY COMPOSITIONS ............. 52 Witold Lutosławski’s Chain 1 ................................................................................... 52 1. Notation and errata .................................................................................... 53 2. Setup of the ensemble ................................................................................ 61 3. Gestures ..................................................................................................... 65 Gérard Grisey’s Partiels (1975) from Les Espaces Acoustiques (1974-85) ............. 68 1. Specific challenges .................................................................................... 72 Conclusion: The Ultimate Goal of Conducting Gestures .......................................... 80 BIBLIOGRAPHY ..... ........................................................................................................... 83 APPENDIX A. QUESTIONS FOR CONDUCTING TEACHERS .................................... 87 APPENDIX B. INTERVIEWS WITH CONDUCTORS ..................................................... 88 viii Interview with Dr. Charlene Archibeque (December 19, 2015) ............................... 88 Interview with Kenneth Kiesler (January 31, 2016) ................................................. 93 Interview with Dr. Robert Porco (April 13, 2016) .................................................... 100 Email Interview with Dr. Michael Haithcock (response received April 25, 2016) ... 104 Additional email correspondence with Dr. Michael Haithcock (May 15, 2016) ...... 107 Interview with Frank Battisti (May 17, 2016) ..........................................................