Presenter(s)
Presenter
Evan Feldman
Bio(s)
Dr. Evan Feldman is Director of Wind Studies and Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches courses in conducting and music education. He also directs the Triangle Wind Ensemble and serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Greensboro Symphony, where he conducts education, holiday, and pops concerts.
He is an active guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in and outside of the United States, with engagements in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Romania, Belgium, and Tanzania, as well as all-state, all-district, and all-county honor bands in the United States. Under his direction the UNC Wind Ensemble has twice performed at the College Band Directors National Association southern division conference.
Dr. Feldman’s college textbook, Instrumental Music Education (Routledge Publishing), is in its third edition and has been widely adopted by university music education programs. He authored the first MOOC (massive open online course) dedicated to conducting and rehearsal technique. Over 30,000 students have enrolled through Coursera.org.
His arrangements and editions of music by Léo Delibes, Ralph Vaughan Williams, George Enescu, Antonin Dvořák, Ariel Ramirez, and Sergei Prokofiev are published by Tierolff Muziekcentrale.
Hiding in Plain Sight: "Re-composing" and "De-composing" to Teach the Inner Workings of Repertoire to Students and Audiences
Students often admit they like a piece better at the end of the rehearsal process than at the beginning. Why? Even if we never explain anything to them, they become well-acquainted with a piece’s inner workings through our teaching. They hear us break down each section and put it back together. Through repeated listening they make sense of the work’s sound world. So why don’t we offer audiences these advantages? And how can we optimize this effect for our ensemble members? Many conductors offer program notes from the podium, and some play excerpts, too. But even more effective than playing a collection of themes is an ultra-accelerated version of what we do in rehearsal. Using something I call “Demo Excerpts,” we re-compose, de-compose, and demonstrate the composer’s journey from creating the “proto” version of a piece to the evolved work we are about to perform. This session will discuss what sorts of compositional techniques are effective to reveal to audiences, how to efficiently and compellingly write these 4-5 minute presentations, and how the process of devising Demo Excerpts complements our score study. By using goal-based instruction we can reverse-engineer and enhance the sorts of things we should cover in rehearsal.