Music direction for the stage
Subtitle: a view from the podium
By: Joseph Church
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 392
ISBN-13: 9780199993406; 9780199993413
Copyright date: 2015
Subjects: Production and direction; Conductors (Music); Conducting; Musicals; Vocational guidance
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pges 383-385) and index.
Table of contents: title: 1. Music direction today and yesterday. What a music director does ; Historical survey of music direction ; Technology and the shrinking orchestra ; Looking to the future; title: 2. Musical stage production. Songs, musicals, and opera ; A (very) brief history of music for the stage ; Production in the twenty-first century; title: 3. Job opportunities for music directors. Broadway and Off-Broadway ; National tours ; Regional (local), repertory, and stock theater ; Nightclubs, cabarets, and concerts ; Revues, special events, and industrials ; Academic theaters and events ; Amateur and community performances and talent shows ; Workshops and developmental productions; title: 4. The production team. Producers ; Stage managers ; General managers, company managers, house managers, and production managers; title: 5. The creative team. Composers and lyricists ; Directors ; Choreographers ; Designers and technicians; title: 6. The music team. Conductors, associates, and assistants ; Contractors and music coordinators ; Orchestrators and copyists ; Vocal and dance arrangers ; Synthesizer programmers ; The orchestra; title: 7. The performers. Singers and dancers ; Singers and actors ; Star performers and nontraditional casting ; Casting directors; title: 8. Mounting a production. Meetings and agendas, planning and scheduling ; Casting ; Determining the orchestration : three scenarios (Scenario 1: voice and piano, or maybe more; Scenario 2: small ensembles; Scenario 3: orchestra reductions); title: 9. The music : assessment and analysis. Learning and practicing scores ; Preparing scores for rehearsal ; Transcribing ; Practical analysis for music direction; title: 10. Arranging for music directors. Starting an arrangement : approaches and rightness ; Technical fundamentals of arranging (Distribution, registration, and voicing; Dynamics and articulation; Key; Feel and style; Tempo; Structure; Notating arrangements) ; Arranging for voices ; Arranging for movement; title: 11. Overview of rehearsal process; title: 12. Individual vocal rehearsals. Coaching singers (Rehearsal process and conduct; Background, analysis, and style; Key; Tempo; Vocal technique; Accompanying and the accompaniment) ; Text and singing ; Acting and singing; title: 13. Ensemble vocal rehearsals. Ensemble rehearsal process ; Choral techniques for the stage (Dynamics and articulation; Breathing and phrasing; Vocal production and technique; Intonation; Text and diction; Acting and characterization; Movement; Choral conducting for the stage; title: 14. Rehearsals with directors and choreographers. Staging and dramatic rehearsals ; Movement and dance rehearsals; title: 15. Adapting music to the production. Cueing ; Underscoring, transitions, and incidental music ; Overtures, bows, and exit music; title: 16. Orchestras and orchestrations. Organizing the musicians ; The orchestra : sections and setup (Rhythm sections : keyboards, drums, bass, and guitar; Woodwinds and brass; Strings) ; Orchestration : notation and parts; title: 17. Instrumental conducting for the stage. Rehearsal process ; Conducting styles ; Visibility and the "field" ; Baton, head, and hands ; Conducting techniques (Meter, beat patterns, and subdivisions; Preparatory beats and cutoffs; Rests and holds; Safeties and vamps; Free tempo, recitative, and following singers; Tempo and tempo changes; Feels, grooves, and syncopations; Dynamics and articulations; Cueing and the stage); title: 18. From the studio to the stage. Run-throughs, dress rehearsals, and the Sitzprobe ; Load-ins, seatings, and sound checks ; The podium ; Technical rehearsals, previews, and brush-ups ; Giving and receiving notes; title: 19. Conducting in performance. The pre-show routine ; Showtime ; Repeated performances : variations on a theme ; When things go wrong; title: 20. Maintaining a production and preserving a show. A day in the life ; Keeping the performance fresh ; Rehearsing after opening ; Subbing in the orchestra ; Subbing on the podium ; Disputes ; Original cast and other recordings ; Repeatability and the rehearsal score; title: 21. Working as a music director. Starting out ; Career philosophy ; Maintaining a career ; How to get a gig; title: Appendix A. Putting it together. In the Heights #1 : "In the Heights" ; The Lion King #1 : "Circle of life"; title: Appendix B. Bibliography, suggested reading, and list of musical works cited.