ACO SCHOOLS RESOURCES PERFORMANCE

The orchestra performs all around Australia and the world. "The energy and vibe of a rock band with the ability of a crack classical chamber group." Washington Post Its unique programming spans popular masterworks and adventurous cross-artform projects. Check out this video about our project The Reef https://vimeo.com/175661017 Outstanding Australian violinist Richard Tognetti has been at the helm of the ACO since 1989. He’s an enthusiastic surfer and skier and loves pushing the boundaries of classical music

This is one of THREE resources released by the ACO for secondary schools. Each resource focusses on a core musical concept; Performance, Composition and Musicology (Aural). This resource focusses on PERFORMANCE. In this series of activities, we’re going to focus on the music from ACO Soloists, Locatelli’s Violin Concerto in D Major. You can apply these concepts and activities to all of our concert programs, just pick a piece to use as a starting point for your performance.

Performance ACTIVITY 1 Watch the ACO perform Grieg String Quartet Discussion Questions: What did you take from the ACO’s video on performance? What are some main areas to consider when performing? What would you say are important things to do on stage? Why do the ACO make these choices?

PERFORMANCE We’re going to look at three main areas in performance: PROFESSIONALISM ACCURACY MUSICALITY  

Professionalism When you present a performance for exam or for an audience, professionalism is important. Do: Be confident – don’t make excuses! Be prepared – know your music. Be rehearsed. Be tuned – know what your instrument is going to do. Be warmed up – warm up backstage, not on stage. Check your balance – before you perform, check your balance in the performance space.

Professionalism Don’t: Apologise for your performance, either before or after Make excuses for your performance, either before or after Change your piece at the last minute ACTIVITY 2 As a class, list some DO’s and DON’T’s on stage.

Professionalism ACTIVITY 3 Get your instruments out! You’re going to present a short performance, with a focus on being as PROFESSIONAL as possible. Remember, even if you think your performance was bad: Take compliments for your performance - say “thank you” rather than disagreeing Acknowledge the audience (bow, nod, or gesture) Don’t grimace or scowl

Professionalism ACTIVITY 4. Performance Practice! A volunteer (or those students chosen by the teacher) will perform for the opening statement from Locatelli’s Concerto no. 12 in D major. Your teacher may even be nice enough to give you a chance to practice it first. As you perform, focus on being as PROFESSIONAL as possible.

Professionalism How did the students go? Feedback: Keep it POSITIVE Keep it CONSTRUCTIVE Try again, or choose another volunteer. It is up to your teacher.

Accuracy Keep your instruments out for this activity. In your performance, you want to be as ACCURATE as possible. This means playing all the right notes (among other things). ACTIVITY 5 Here are two excerpts. Choose an excerpt, or part thereof that best suits you. It should be difficult for you, but not impossible.

Accuracy For this exercise, the teacher may like a volunteer to stand out the front of the class to act as a guinea pig. It’s perfectly OK that this person can’t play the excerpt yet. The first method we’re going to use to get these hard bits under our fingers is the “backwards” method. Step One – play the excerpt. Make a mistake. Identify the bit where you muck up. Step Two – Let’s just focus on the hard bit. Just play the LAST NOTE of the hard bit. Step three – Play the last TWO notes of the hard bit. Play them again. And again. Step four – play the last THREE notes of the hard bit. . Play them again. And again. Step five – Keep adding one note at a time, taking care to master one step before moving to the next. Do this until you can play the hard bit fluently. Hooray!

Accuracy ACTIVITY 6. This time, we’re going to try a different method to master the hard bit. Another volunteer might like to stand out the front and choose an excerpt. This time, we’re going to use the “dotted” method. Step One - Play the excerpt. Make a mistake. Identify the bit where you muck up. Step two – take the difficult passage and change the rhythm. Instead of playing straight quavers or straight semiquavers, slow it down and play dotted rhythms instead. Try it Long – Short Long – Short first. Do this a few times. Step Three – Reverse the dotted rhythm. This time, try it Short – Long, Short- Long. Do this a few times. Step Four – Try it straight again!

Musicality ACTIVITY 7 Here are the excerpts again. As a class or individually, try learning the notes using one of the two methods described.

Musicality Generally speaking, Music always needs to GO SOMEWHERE and SAY SOMETHING. Here are the excerpts again: ACTIVITY 8 Now that you’ve played them, decide where the music is going. What is the most important note in the phrase? LEAD to that note.

Musicality Our last lot of volunteers, and possibly the most difficult, will perform for the class – combining the three aspects of performance we have looked at today – Professionalism, Accuracy and Musicality.   Feel free to give feedback, but keep it positive and constructive.

At the Concert Observe aspects of professionalism, accuracy and musicality during the performance   What did you notice? What could you take from this performance? Enjoy the concert!