6
Get Really Good At Contemporary Music
Bigger organisations will very rarely book a young conductor for a Tristan und Isolde, but they might well book a young conductor for a new commission.
This is because a young conductor is more likely to learn the piece properly. Difficult contemporary pieces take a whole lot of preparation, and the busier and more high-profile a conductor is (with notable exceptions), the less likely it is that they will factor in the unpaid learning time required to really get on top of the piece. So houses often see it as the smarter move to offer these opportunities to young conductors who will grab them and work their socks off on them.
So how do you get really good at contemporary music? Definitely include difficult contemporary scores in your 'Practice Listening' (#2) time. And, as you would instinctively want to do with Brahms, don't forget to do the subjective stuff too with new music: what is at the musical heart of this music? - what are you trying to make the audience feel, and how can you go about that to the best effect? When performing contemporary music, most people think the game ends at 'getting it right', and never bother to apply their musical imaginations towards 'getting it really good and exciting'.
Bigger organisations will very rarely book a young conductor for a Tristan und Isolde, but they might well book a young conductor for a new commission.
This is because a young conductor is more likely to learn the piece properly. Difficult contemporary pieces take a whole lot of preparation, and the busier and more high-profile a conductor is (with notable exceptions), the less likely it is that they will factor in the unpaid learning time required to really get on top of the piece. So houses often see it as the smarter move to offer these opportunities to young conductors who will grab them and work their socks off on them.
So how do you get really good at contemporary music? Definitely include difficult contemporary scores in your 'Practice Listening' (#2) time. And, as you would instinctively want to do with Brahms, don't forget to do the subjective stuff too with new music: what is at the musical heart of this music? - what are you trying to make the audience feel, and how can you go about that to the best effect? When performing contemporary music, most people think the game ends at 'getting it right', and never bother to apply their musical imaginations towards 'getting it really good and exciting'.