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