November 14, 2022 Climate activists in Vancouver attempted to destroy a painting by one of Canada's most iconic artists, using maple syrup at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Here's what's happening in classical music:
CLASSICAL CHARTS THE BIG IDEA Opera hooligans, beware — you could be banned for lifeLast Tuesday, a patron at the Royal Opera House was banned after heckling an opening night performance by 12-year-old soprano Malakai Bayoh. He had been singing alongside Toronto’s Emily D’Angelo in the role of Oberto in Handel’s opera Alcina. One onlooker described the scene via the Telegraph. Bayoh began singing a beautiful, heartfelt aria about the death of his father. It wasn’t long until an elderly man in the audience started yelling, “Rubbish!” “This is awful, this isn’t singing” […] “This is an opera house.” A credit to Bayoh’s training, he kept singing. At the end of his aria, the audience erupted in applause, drowning out the man’s heckling. It is not clear if he left on his own or was asked to leave by the staff of the Royal Opera House, but the man was seen leaving during intermission. After the show, word started to spread across social media over what transpired. The Royal Opera House responded via Twitter: “Unfortunately, the opening night of Alcina featured an audience member who disrupted the show and the excellent performance by young singer Malakai M Bayoh. We are appalled that a member of the audience behaved in this way, and steps have been taken to ensure the audience member in question does not return to the Royal Opera House.” Crossing the line The Guardian critic Martin Kettle added another take on the situation. “What happened at Covent Garden on Tuesday evening, however, wasn’t booing but heckling,” writes Kettle. “It was repeated and mean-spirited barracking during a touching and plaintive aria about the loss of a father. Most disturbingly of all, it was the heckling of a child.” Renewed debateThe primarily European practice of booing at the opera has resulted in a renewed debate about how appropriate it is in the modern age of traditional and more director-led productions. Reviewing the responses linked above, most suggest that the practice of booing at operas is coming to an end. THE LATEST Opera: English National Opera give ‘defiant’ curtain call as opera stars scorn funding cut Opinion: Classical music critic rages at UK Arts Council over funding cuts Film: First trailer released for ‘Chevalier’ biopic about 18th-century composer Joseph Boulogne Muzak: The story behind how 7-Eleven stores in B.C. started playing muzak to deter loitering 4 decades ago Profile: After a few false starts, tenor Benjamin Bernheim looks ahead to his MET Opera debut in Verdi’s “Rigoletto” Piano: Kristian Bezuidenhout unleashes the subtle power of the fortepiano Violin: Participants announced for the 2022 Singapore International Violin Competition Music Busines: Pink Floyd wanted $500 M for its music. What went wrong? REPORT Science Confirms: It Really Is All About The BassWhat is it about bass-heavy music that gets people to dance? That’s the essential question at the heart of the study, titled Undetectable very-low-frequency sound increases dancing at a live concert. The results of the study by researchers at McMaster University were published in the journal Current Biology on November 7. The study notes that the low-frequency sounds played by bass instruments are a prominent element in dance music. But, is that what actually gets people on their feet? “I’m trained as a drummer, and most of my research career has been focused on the rhythmic aspects of music and how they make us move,” says Daniel Cameron, lead author and a neuroscientist at McMaster University in Science Daily. “Music is a biological curiosity — it doesn’t reproduce us, it doesn’t feed us, and it doesn’t shelter us, so why do humans like it and why do they like to move to it?” Those low-frequency notesLow-frequency notes are processed differently than high frequency notes. The authors cite several other studies that have looked at those processes.
Low-frequency sounds are processed not only through the auditory (hearing) channels. We also experience them as vibrations, and through the vestibular (or inner ear) system. The researchers posit that it’s those non-auditory pathways, which react much more strongly for lower than higher frequencies, which lead to what they call “groove (the pleasurable urge to move to music)”. It also heightens the perception of rhythm. What was not previously known, however, was whether these differences in perception actually lead to actions in the real world, or if the frequencies below the level of human perception can also affect our behaviour. The experimentThe experiment involved using very low-frequency (VLF) speakers during a live concert of electronic music. The VLF speakers were turned on and off at intervals during the concert, and the audience’s reactions were recorded with motion capture. “The musicians were enthusiastic to participate because of their interest in this idea that bass can change how the music is experienced in a way that impacts movement,” says Cameron. “The study had high ecological validity, as this was a real musical and dance experience for people at a real live show.” The researchers used McMaster’s LIVELab, a performance venue that doubles as a testing centre dedicated to exploring performing arts via science. What they foundBecause the VLFs played at or below the level of the human auditory threshold, it was presumed they were undetectable by the crowd, and that any behaviours that resulted were the result of the unconscious perception of the low-frequency sounds. A second experiment confirmed the hypothesis that the VLFs were not detectable, meaning they could be used without the audience being aware of it.
The authors write that one theory favours the inner ear connection for VLFs. The paper also takes into account that cultural as well as individual experiences may come into play, but the fact they are undetectable suggests that the reaction is a common and fundamental element of how we as human beings connect sound and dance. It confirms what nightclubbers have always known — that it’s the beat that gets you on the dance floor. CLASSICAL 101 What Does A Conductor Do?Timekeeper, herder, tastemaker, cheerleader and scold. Those are the five primary jobs of a conductor. He or she is where the musical buck stops. Yet there are always people who think a conductor is not essential to a good ensemble performance. Every musician is supposed to count as well as be aware of what their colleague(s) are doing. So a chamber ensemble or small orchestra can get away without a conductor, as long as everyone agrees that there is one person — usually the first violin — who is the go-to for cues and small emergencies. Interpretive issues are resolved during rehearsal, as the group discusses the nuances of balance and phrasing and comes to solutions that satisfy the majority. Tafelmusik, Toronto’s period-instrument orchestra, performs its Baroque concerts without a conductor, but the music director Elisa Citterio usually has the full score, not just the first violin part, on her music stand. There are specific gestures that go with each time signature. The most basic tempo indication comes at the top of a stroke of the baton or hand — something like the opposite ends of a U shape. As the metre changes from two beats to a bar or measure to three, four, five or six, the conductor’s compound gesture changes accordingly. The secret to everyone’s happiness is clarity. In most cases, this translates into the beat being represented as the baton’s top blip. The source of endless moaning on the part of singers and instrumentalists is when, in a rhapsodic fit, the conductor begins to draw circles (most people I know call this “the windmill”). Because a circle is a continuous loop, the actual beat disappears. In addition to keeping time, the conductor also cues individual players or sections when they have a musically significant entrance or exit. So the conductor is paying attention to each constituent part of a performance as well as to the whole, which is where the herding tasks come into play. The tempo frequently changes in music, from large, overall shifts in speed to the small easings of progress at the ends of musical phrases. There are silences of variable duration. These elements are where the conductor, as a tastemaker, comes in. Taste — the interpreter’s vision — concerns anything in the translation from the printed score to what is actually played. On paper, all the instruments in an orchestra are, technically, equal. But, in practice, one wants to hear more violin here, less bass there, a more rhythmic sound from the trombones over there, and so on. Less tangible are the yin-yang roles of cheerleader and scold. The collegial, 21st-century conductor is meant to inspire his or her followers through a combination of infectious enthusiasm, efficient communication and deep insight into the music. Montreal native Yannick Nézet-Séguin is a paragon of enthusiastic collegiality, for example. And his musical results are often very fine. Old School authoritarians often ruled with a mixture of shock and awe. Sometimes, I am told, orchestras — and choirs — need a bit of both. Yes, it is possible to perform — and perform very well — without a conductor. But the time and effort that a large ensemble would have to put in to make this possible makes musical democracy way too impractical. It would be much like town-hall politics, where every decision depends on citizen consensus. Here are two little videos about conducting. The first comes across as a bit geeky, but it is a good illustration of the technical side of a conductor’s gestures. The second is a bit of fun, thanks to Rowan Atkinson. AROUND THE WEB 📅 On this day: American composer Aaron Copland was born in Brooklyn, New York, on November 14, 1900. 🤠Opera: How Italian opera influenced Mexican Ranchera. 🥁 Surprising: What classical musicians can learn from marching bands. 🎶 History: Exploring the history of the kora. 🐝 Interesting: If bumblebees can play, does it mean they have feelings? This study suggests yes. 🧠 Challenge: Play some brain games and see how you match up with other players. 📚Neat: This website tells you the time using quotes from famous literature. MEME OF THE WEEK How did you like today's email? |