Greetings from the last day of Dakota Chamber Music...
Our coaching responsibilities are all wrapped up and all that's left are the
final participant concerts! I've found a corner of the hall to listen to
the dress rehearsals and spend some time reflecting on the work of the past few
days. I've already picked up a few new teaching ideas by watching the
other coaches work with their groups!
Working at a festival like Dakota Chamber Music is something
of a dream come true for me. My own summer experiences as a student
exerted the most powerful pull towards pursuing music as a vocation. It
is wonderful to re-enter that world, if only for seven short days! Of
course, although the schedule of a summer festival is intensive, most of the
real work of a festival happens year-round, behind-the-scenes: not only the
countless hours of rehearsal, but the difficult work of planning the whole
festival! Much of that work was done by Drs. Erik and Dianna Anderson,
professors at Minot State of cello and piano, respectively. The entire
festival ran like clockwork; I saw no detail overlooked and encountered no
serious problems for the entire week. That really is a major achievement
on the part of DCM's staff!
Dakota Chamber Music saw record attendance this summer for
their 20th anniversary. There were combined 80+ participants for the
weekend retreat (Sun-Mon) and the regular festival (Tues-Sun), with 10-13
coaches present for the sessions. Each participant performed in two
separate groups, and each coach was responsible for four groups with whom they
met daily. It's not hard to understand why there were two final concerts,
with the first being nearly three hours long and the second nearly four!
Wow!!!!!
In honor of the 20th year, members of the Ying Quartet
returned for a few days of coaching and a very warm performance of Gabriel
Faure's C minor piano quartet on the opening concert. They were heavily
involved in DCM's early years and we were able to learn so much from their
tremendous musicianship and personal conviction.
The festival was held on the campus of Minot State
University, whose wonderful facilities included a spacious and
balanced-sounding concert hall. Participants stayed in dormitories with
meals provided by the festival. After a long day of focus, it was great
not to worry about the logistics of meals and travel, and instead enjoy
activities on the campus.
A typical DCM day went like this, from 7:45am to 10pm
- Breakfast
- Practice session (with coach)
- Morning Coachings (2 groups)
- Morning Faculty Presentation or Performance class (3 groups)
- Lunch
- Practice session (with coach)
- Afternoon Coachings (2 groups)
- Afternoon Faculty Presentation or Performance class (3
groups)
- Dinner
- Concert/Soccer/Sightreading
Lots to do! As coaches, we were involved in each
activity, so we were certainly never bored! The strength of the music and
the investment of the students gave me energy throughout the whole week.
Well, almost.
Students were assigned half-hour blocks where they could
request practice help from a coach. Usually a student had run into a
problem on a small section of music which, although they had practiced, they
were unable to improve. I found each student to be very teachable and
each problem very solve-able--in each case it was simply a matter of
identifying the different elements needed to play each passage, practicing
these elements separately, and eventually joining them together into one
gesture. Who knew this practice method could be so effective? ;)
Coaching sessions with each student ensemble followed the
assigned practice-help blocks. Teaching points ranged from technical
aspects such as intonation, rhythm, giving/taking cues, and delegating
responsibility in the group (this person is reponsible for the new tempo here,
that person should lead the cresc., etc.) to musical questions such as "is
this part louder or softer?", "why is it softer?", "who has
the melody here?", "is the most exciting part right now or later
on?". Answering questions like these helped the participants
understand the audience's experience of the piece and get all of the members of
the group working toward the same musical idea.
Next were performance classes, where our teaching strategy
was different. Because a large audience was present and time with each
group was limited, we tried to address only one topic with each group .
We also tried to address the topic broadly enough so that, even if the audience
didn't know the piece being played, they would still be able to follow the
discussion and apply the general principles discussed to their own pieces.
Each group of faculty (Ying Quartet, Luminus Piano Trio, Beo
Quartet, and others) gave at least one presentation to the festival at
large. Beo was afforded the opportunity to give two. The first
demonstrated the sounds and techniques used to play different expressive
markings (the very same one given to composers during the Charlotte New Music
Festival, but from the performer's perspective). The second discussed a
few complicated rhythms and showed how to figure them out so that the ensemble
could think about them in exactly the same way. That way, the group would
sound more together in terms of both rhythmic accuracy and feel.
And of course social/activity time is built into the
day! Students were allowed access to the library to read any chamber
music they were able to find. The festival also made room for a trip to
play laser tag and eat "galactic pizza" (too big to fit through the
door; must be turned on its side!) and the annual DCM soccer game, after which
we all were sore for the rest of the week. Those interested in local
wildlife could spot a family of turkeys roaming the grounds. The coaches
watched the chicks' improvements in their ability to fly with great interest!
A festival like Dakota Chamber Music would not be possible
without the effort made by the participants, their teachers, and their parents
over the years of their musical study. It is my aim and my sincerest hope
to prepare the young students in my studio to one day encounter music in this
thrilling and deep way, meeting their peers from all across the country to work
for beautiful and meaningful art. Perhaps, for some of us, that day will
come too soon! and for that reason, I will treasure each small step made by my
students along the way. I look forward to getting back to teach the remainder
of our summer at CYM, and I wish you all happy, productive practice!
All best,
-Ryan
