This summer, I was fortunate enough to have taken a conducting class with Anthony Maiello, a professor at George Mason University. He was not only insightful, informative, profound and humorous, but warm, caring and humble. In a nutshell, the man is an artist. In the course of a week, he changed the way we think about music, and the way we perform as musicians/educators. Below are some notes and quotes from his class I had scribbled on my legal pad...
On conducting:
"When the orchestra doesn't need you...get out of the way. When the orchestra needs you...be there for them."
"After the cutoff...let it decay."
A big issue, and problem for music teachers "we change our conducting to compensate for the inadequacy of our students"
"Score in the head, not head in the score"
"Use all three planes...horizontal, vertical and sagittal...you don't view every piece of art from the same distance."
"The horizontal plane is like a workbench"
"Maintain eye contact on a fermata"
"I hawked you" a phrase he uses to describe eye contact
"People hear with their eyes...and ears"
On entrances..."the closer to the downbeat the harder the stroke, the further from the downbeat the softer the stroke"
On music:
"You can't have an ensemble without community"
for transposition..."bring the instrument to the music"
from his friend John LaPorta..."In the beginning there was light? Well the Bible's wrong. In the beginning there was time!"
On teaching music:
"Music picks you...you don't pick it"
"Be honest...When you go to the doctor, you don't want him to lie to you - You're fine. (as he's thinking you're going to die next week) Buy a new car!"
"Would you like to be a performance major? Go to a music education school first, so that you understand music. Then if you still want to, go to a cut throat graduate school."
For a kid who misses class and is considering a career in music..."Would you go to a doctor who missed the class on lungs?!"
"When I get to school my tank is empty, when I leave my tank is full."
If you get the chance to see Mr. Maiello perform or teach, seize the opportunity. It's a life changing experience.
