choral briefs midwest clinic performance anxiety - KBB Music
choral briefs midwest clinic performance anxiety - KBB Music
choral briefs midwest clinic performance anxiety - KBB Music
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<strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong> Festival Update<br />
An update on the 2012 <strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong> Festival by<br />
Chairperson Dr. Trevor Thwaites.<br />
Welcome back to Term III. Christmas will soon be<br />
here, but not before the <strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong> Festival, the main<br />
event in your calendars, has taken place. Judging by the<br />
entries, this year promises to be an outstanding event. Let<br />
me remind you of the date and venue:<br />
Tuesday 21 to Saturday 25 August, 2012 as the dates for<br />
the Festival.<br />
Venue: The Holy Trinity Cathedral and St Mary’s Church,<br />
Parnell<br />
The Gala Concerts will be at 2.30pm and 6.30pm on<br />
Saturday 25 August, so put this in your diary as a mustattend<br />
event. Saturday morning is reserved for the Fringe<br />
Festival for non-competitive entries.<br />
For the competitive entries, let me remind you of the five<br />
categories against which you will be marked:<br />
Technique: which considers the technical skills of the<br />
ensemble, as well as the technical demands of the music.<br />
Accuracy: in particular this pays attention to accuracy of<br />
notated articulation, expression, pitch and rhythm, as well<br />
as intonation.<br />
<strong>Music</strong>ianship: establishes how effective and affective the<br />
musical <strong>performance</strong> is in terms of stylistic integrity, feel,<br />
sensitivity and portrayal for the composer or arranger’s<br />
intentions.<br />
Cohesion: considers the balance between the parts, the<br />
togetherness of the ensemble in the production of a cohesive<br />
overall sound.<br />
Presentation: gives consideration to how effective and<br />
convincing the <strong>performance</strong> is, as well as audience rapport<br />
and general comportment and (professional) attitude while on<br />
stage.<br />
It is often estimated that to become an expert musician you<br />
need to have put in over 10,000 hours of practice. This means<br />
that practicing for two hours per day, seven days a week for<br />
twelve years or more should bring you close. However, there<br />
are ways to practice and ways of not practicing. Meaningful<br />
practice with planning, intent and reflection is beneficial,<br />
but simply practicing the same old routines day after day,<br />
year after year with no specific goal in mind is less likely to<br />
produce expertise. I have a friend who says “practice makes<br />
permanent” and we might take this to mean that if we install<br />
bad habits into our practice routines, then repeating these<br />
year in year out makes the habits harder to break once<br />
someone tells us what is wrong.<br />
Recently, I noted in an old conducting text the library<br />
were throwing out the sane advice that technique means<br />
establishing the simplest and most comfortable way to<br />
produce the desired musical sound and effect (paraphrased).<br />
See you in August.<br />
Trevor Thwaites<br />
Chairperson<br />
<strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong> Festival<br />
New Technician Onboard<br />
Originally from Kansas, Jennifer Wiegel moved to Auckland in June<br />
this year with her young family to join <strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong>’s Technical Team.<br />
Before coming to New Zealand, Jennifer,<br />
or Jenny as she is known at <strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong>,<br />
was an instrument repair technician at<br />
Senseney <strong>Music</strong> in Kansas where she<br />
repaired and restored woodwinds, brasswinds,<br />
and orchestral strings for the last 8<br />
years, as well as guitars for a year.<br />
"Orchestral strings and woodwinds are my<br />
speciality and favourites to work on," says<br />
Jenny who is proficient on most woodwind<br />
and orchestral string instruments. "I also<br />
enjoy custom woodwork."<br />
“It took over a year to find a technician<br />
that has the level of skill that we were<br />
looking for,” says Michael Austin, <strong>KBB</strong><br />
<strong>Music</strong>’s Technical Manager. “Jenny<br />
brings with her a diverse range of skills<br />
and knowledge gained by working in a<br />
workshop with six technicians.”<br />
Jenny attended Kansas State University<br />
(KSU) and Wichita State University (WSU),<br />
graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in<br />
<strong>Music</strong> with emphasis on Clarinet, as well<br />
as <strong>Music</strong>ology.<br />
“I knew straight away that I would apply<br />
for this job,” says Jenny. “And I am<br />
enjoying the new surroundings now I’m<br />
here!”<br />
Jenny is based in <strong>KBB</strong> <strong>Music</strong>'s repair<br />
workshop in Epsom, Auckland. •<br />
Freephone 0800 775 226 www.kbbmusic.co.nz 7