FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83  
84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   >>   >|  
ught they knew should have all at once become quite another thing. And the unprejudiced mind joyfully confesses, "Thus, thus, must it be." It will soon be discovered by the amateur that in every case where an effect such as that described by Weingartner has been brought about, it is because the conductor has studied the music and has then made gestures which were prompted by his sympathetic response to the thought of the composer. In other words, the conducting was effective because the feeling which prompted the gestures came from within, as is always the case when an orator or an actor moves us deeply. This is what is meant by interpretation in conducting; and we can scarcely do better, in concluding our discussion of the whole matter, than to quote once more from a writer to whom we have already referred.[22] [Footnote 22: C.F.A. Williams, _The Rhythm of Modern Music_, p. 18.] The great interpreters of instrumental music are those who can most nearly enter into the composer's ideals, or can even improve upon them, and who are able to give a delicacy or force of accentuation or phrasing which it is outside of the possibility of notation to express.... The days of cold, classical performance of great works are practically over. The executant or conductor now seeks to stir the deeper emotions of his audience, and to do so he must pay homage to the artist who conceived the work, by interpreting it with enthusiasm and warmth. CHAPTER VIII THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC AS CONDUCTOR [Sidenote: THE FIELD OF SCHOOL MUSIC] The phenomenal progress which has been made during recent years in the music departments of both the grades and the high schools of our great public educational systems, together with the fact that a large number of young men and women of real musical ability are entering the field of public school music as a life work, make it seem worth while to include a chapter upon the work of the music supervisor as conductor. The writer has long contended that the public school systems of this country offered the most significant opportunity for influencing the musical taste of a nation that has ever existed. If this be true, then it is highly important that the teachers of music in these school systems shall be men and women who are, in the first place, thoroughly trained musicians; in the second place, broadly educated along general lines;
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83  
84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
conductor
 

school

 

systems

 

public

 

prompted

 
gestures
 
writer
 

conducting

 
composer
 

musical


performance

 

homage

 
phenomenal
 

progress

 
departments
 

emotions

 
deeper
 
audience
 

artist

 

recent


enthusiasm

 

SUPERVISOR

 

warmth

 

executant

 

grades

 

CHAPTER

 

practically

 

interpreting

 

conceived

 

Sidenote


CONDUCTOR

 
SCHOOL
 

highly

 

important

 

teachers

 
existed
 

influencing

 
nation
 

educated

 
general

broadly
 

trained

 
musicians
 
opportunity
 

significant

 

ability

 
entering
 

classical

 
number
 

schools