NEC’s School of Continuing Education Professional Studies Certificate candidate Amy Kao, gave her final recital on Saturday February 22, 2014 in Brown Hall. Amy performed works by Froberger, Handel, Bach and Scarlatti on a 1987 custom built French double-manual harpsichord by Allan Winkler. The harpsichord is based on the work of the Parisian builder Francois Blanchet II and was built here in Boston.
What made this recital even more interesting was that Amy’s entire performance was done without sheet music. Instead, she chose to use a tablet computer with a foot pedal mechanism to turn the pages of the music which had been scanned into the tablet computer.
A special congratulations to Amy on a great performance and we wish her all the best in the next stage of her musical journey!
NEC School of Professional Studies Certificate Graduate Amy Kao
Early music meets the 21st century
French double-manual harpsichord by Allan Winkler (notice the tablet computer and foot pedals)
Amy Kao pictured with NEC Faculty John Gibbons (center) and Allan Winkler (craftsman of harpsichord).
A special congratulations to our Professional Studies Certificate in Jazz student, Lisa Witwicki, who gave her final recital on Wednesday, January 29, 2014.
We wish her all the best in the next stage of her musical journey!
To learn more about our certificate programs and how we can help you achieve your musical goals please visit our Certificate Programs page.
This past Thursday, December 5th, NEC’s Student Activities Center hosted a physical therapy/injury prevention clinic. This clinic served to educate musicians on how to avoid playing with injuries in the first place, how to practice effectively and cautiously while injured, and how to help one’s self heal as quickly as possible after getting injured. At NEC, this clinic couldn’t be more helpful. It is common knowledge here at NEC that the pianists and string players spend hours and hours on end hidden away in a practice room perfecting their craft. For some people, this works just fine, but for others, sometimes their fingers, hands, wrists, arms, shoulders, etc. just can’t keep up with that intense of a practice session, but more often than not, the players keep on playing. This is a horrible habit considering these musicians have their careers resting on those hard working hands!
Of course, injuries can happen to any instrumentalist, and injury prevention can be just as effective for a trombonist as it is for a jazz bass player. I only use string players and pianists as my example because of how many cases of tendonitis, broken fingers, and stress fractures that my friends have experienced in this past semester alone! I, being a singer, don’t really have to deal with this much stress on my body when I’m practicing; the occasional crick in my neck, sure, shoulder tension, you bet, but that’s nothing that a little massaging and stretching can’t fix! I couldn’t even imagine how devastated I would be if I hurt one of my ribs, or a lung, or worse… if I got nodes!
Injury prevention is such an important topic for musicians and I am so glad that NEC is able to hold a clinic like this! Productive practicing is NOT just spending hours in a room playing the same phrase over and over. Productive practicing is being aware of your body while you’re playing; how does it feel? Does it hurt when you reach for that note? Do you feel confident of the music within your body?
Be engaged and aware fellow musicians! We need you to help keep our art alive!
Stay healthy my friends!
Lizzie Wendt
SCE Workstudy
Elizabeth Wendt School of Continuing Education Office Assistant
Phone: (617) 585-1701
Email: ContinuingEducation@necmusic.edu
Our NEC work-study students are passionate about music and everything about it! How many times have you heard the word diva used in opera these days? What are your thoughts on opera today? Jessica Rost, one of our very own Undergraduate NEC sopranos voices her opinion on the matter.
Opera News, “Sweet Sound of Freedom”
“It’s so difficult to define the word “diva” today in the opera world and outside of it.
In a recent Opera News interview, American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky explained her interpretation of the word. She claimed that in the past, “a diva was someone who threw fits, stomped out of rehearsals, had all these demands. But that’s not acceptable in this day and age. People who throw hissy fits get replaced.” There’s no room for those kind of divas anymore. Brilliance and humility are both expected.
As of late, being called a “diva” is something to be celebrated rather than ashamed of. Celebrities like Beyoncé have made being called “a diva” desirable. Divas are accomplished and they’ve “earned the right to be called ‘diva’ because of all the work [they’ve] done.”
But why the shift in attitude all of a sudden? One could assume that performers are in fact more immature and selfish now with all the influences of young Hollywood destroying society. Does that make our generation more humble, or are directors just expecting professionalism now?
I leave you with the words of the beautiful Sondra Radnanovsky:
“I’m honored to be called a diva. I am. I work hard for that. I work very hard, I love what I do, and I am intensely passionate about it. If that’s being a diva, I am fine with it. But I refuse to be something that I’m not, or behave in such a way that creates an aura of me being untouchable. That’s not me.”
Such a great Throwback! Today’s Throwback comes to us from Dirty Old Boston. Pre J-Geils Band Hallucinations with the Barbarians in Jordan Hall. Circa 1966 or 1967.
Here’s a post from one of our great student workers, Eric Stilwell, after attending the song-writing workshop at NEC during Elvis Costello’s visit to NEC!
“As a performer and composer for almost 40 years, it’s hard to believe there are awards and titles that Elvis Costello has not yet earned. This past friday, The english singer-songwriter was awarded a Doctorate of Music from the New England Conservatory‘s Contemporary improvisation department. Dr. Costello’s visit started with a workshop with students, and ended with a live interview in Jordan Hall. Wether working with The Attractions, The Roots, Paul McCartney, or college students, his love for music and creativity is clear.
In the work shop, Elvis sat in front the bands, next to CI department chair Hankus Netsky and CI ( and SCE) Faculty Eden MacAdam-Somer. The three gave advice to the performers on how to make their songs better. Having not been trained classically or formally, Dr. Costello’s advice was often in a much different style than a conservatory professor would give. While there was a clear respect for the way music is studied here at NEC, he did not stray from his own beliefs. He spoke about how textures in music can change the intensity, or paint a different picture. At one point he observed the difference between a group of people each playing their instruments, and a group of people performing together to create an image through sound.
Dr. Costello held a genuine interest in each performance, and made sure that he had an understanding of what message the performers and writers were trying to convey. His first album is titled My Aim is True, and after 40 years, the title still holds its meaning. Listening to him speak to each group, I could tell how invested he was with each one, and how invested he is in music in general. It’s amazing that after all these years he is still so passionate about creating and revolutionizing music.”
Eric Stilwell
NEC School of Continuing Education Work-Study Student
B.M. Jazz Studies ’16
How do you score a movie with little or no noise??
Last week, Alfonso Cuaron’s movie “Gravity” was released in theaters all over the United States. The movie takes place in space, hovering above earth, where two astronauts have been lost due to debris damaging their ship. Not only is the movie incredibly unique because of its two person cast (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney), the film score had to be captivating and had to capture the essence of space – silence.
The 36 year old composer for the movie, Steven Price, told Huffington Post in a recent article about his experience working on the movie, “With a lot of action scores, you’re competing with a lot of noise,” Price said. “Say there’s a big explosion: the music would conventionally have a lot of Hollywood-style percussion or brass, because that’s the only thing that will cut through. You’d hear stuff within their spacesuits,” Price said. “If they touched something, you’d hear the vibration that they’d hear, but you don’t hear any exterior noises. We kind of knew the music would be responsible for all the other things. I was asked to try and tonally represent things that would ordinarily be sound. You don’t hear an explosion in the film, but you might hear some pulsation in the music that reflects it. The score is doing the job of traditional sound, while the sound crew was able to do an interesting job on their own.”
To me, this concept is fascinating. As musicians, our ears are constantly listening and analyzing the things we hear, but how often do we take a step back and analyze or appreciate the silence? Can you imagine having to write an entire film score based on complete, isolated quiet? Or better yet, can you imagine being an astronaut going from a ridiculously noisy environment, to only hearing the singular sounds that you produce? Astonishing!
In another Huffington Post article, a former astronaut, Jerry L. Ross, recounts his experience on his multiple space-walks and how the silence only emphasized the beauty of the silent vacuum that he was observing.
If space is your thing, follow the links provided for both articles and be amazed at what you will read. And if you have the time, pop into your local movie theater and witness “Gravity” for yourself!
Our third AMAZING work-study student is non other but jazz trombonist, Eric Stilwell! Our NEC SCE students are in good hands!
Eric is a second year Jazz Studies major with a focus in Trombone Performance. He first picked up the horn in 4th grade, and knew immediately he was going to be a musician. Hailing from the South Shore of Massachusetts, he has studied with several CE faculty members at the prep-school, including Joel Yennior, Peter Kenagy, and Mark Zaleski. When Eric’s not tearing it up on the band stand, you might find him at the beach, working on his skating at the local ice rink, or playing frisbee or soccer with his friends. He has a passion for all things Boston sports. Eric is a dog person, and his favorite food is candy.
Another wonderful work-study student we’re so lucky to have serving you in the SCE!
Lizzie Wendt is a soprano here at NEC studying vocal performance. This will not only be her second year attending the school, but her second year working in the School of Continuing Ed.’s office! I guess you could say she’s an expert, veteran, genius, etc. Lizzie is originally from Dallas, Texas where she graduated with honors from a performing arts magnet school. She doesn’t have an accent, but she does have a Texas-sized sweet tooth, and a permanent hunger for Texas barbeque and South American food from Central Mexico, Argentina, and El Salvador. If Lizzie wasn’t pursuing music she would either want to have a career as a Linguist or as a voice-over actor with her goal of being the next Disney princesses‘ voice! Feel free to pop by the office and say hello to her on Monday and Thursday afternoons! And definitely check out her wicked bulletin board decorating skills!
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New England Conservatory School of Continuing Education Blog 