Working With an Ensemble During a Pandemic
By Emily Linane
The University of York Music Department is currently working towards a performance which includes elements of distance. Currently I am working with The Telemusic Ensemble, which is working around the hardships of self isolation and live performance work. The repertoire chosen for this ensemble has the key element of distance in mind such as Gabrieli’s antiphonal music, where every instrument has its own individual melodic line which contributes to the overall texture. Selecting repertoire with distance in mind led us to Andriessen’s Hoketus, where there are two separate groups creating antiphonal, echo sound. During our rehearsals, we have found that every day is different, people are coming in and out of isolation so the live rehearsal never stays the same. Adjusting to the different timbres in every rehearsal is challenging, and produces issues with tone and creating a complete sound. Tone and timbre is an issue when rehearsing with an ensemble that is new, nevermind with only half an ensemble who is socially distancing and the other half online.
Working with half the ensemble on video call and the other half in rehearsals has been disruptive. With antiphonal repertoire, not having one instrumental section present at live rehearsals has been difficult to keep the continuity of the piece. I have found that setting up a group video call before every rehearsal with the camera faced at the conductor is the best way to include everyone who’s isolating or shielding to play along with the rehearsal. People on the video call however, have to be on mute due to the lag of the internet. From the isolating performers view, the video call allows them to be a part of the ensemble's community, and gives them a chance to play along but sometimes poor internet connection causes lag and glitches which makes it impossible to follow the rehearsal. From a conductor’s perspective, it feels as if I am conducting two ensembles, one online and one in person. The space between the ensemble members means I am having to conduct with beats in both hands as not everyone has a perfect view of my beating arm. I am cueing not only the instruments in front of me but also the different instruments on the video call. This creates issues with cueing as everyone is on the same video call, it looks as if I am cueing everyone on the call but I may be only cueing the clarinet for example!
Performing this repertoire is going to be challenging. We have devised a plan to create a series of videos taken from all angles of the ensemble, including the conductor for the other members to then individually record their parts and merge together to create one full ensemble in the performance video. I believe bringing people together in a world that is currently distancing is extremely important for wellbeing, health and also for culture.
Recording Week Madness
The ensemble leaders were extremely busy during recording week. Here are their experiences of recording their ensembles!
Rachel Davies: Live recording was really really fun! Filming inside knowing that you have a couple of takes takes the pressure off, meaning that you can enjoy and relax into each performance, resulting in a better end result. It does however make things tricky as in a live performance you would be happy with it and move on, however in a recorded environment there's always the possibility that you can play it a little better each time meaning you want to keep trying! Recording outside Heslington Hall was amazing, the wind did cause a few issues as far as keeping music on stands is concerned, however it made the whole atmosphere very relaxed and enjoyable. There's also something really exciting about people walking past not knowing what you're doing, but still stopping for a while to have a listen! During this process I learnt that keeping the morale of the players up was the most important thing for everyone to try their best whilst having fun, so I often found myself making far too many rubbish jokes (pretty sure most people were laughing at instead of with me but hey ho!).
Elodie Lawry: Recording week was so so exciting! What could have been a stressful experience ended up being so much fun thanks to the very reliable team. It was such a joy to work with this incredible crew who worked together so effortlessly. I learned that working in an environment where there are time constraints, a certain number of takes and special distancing measures doesn’t have to be stressful. You are working amongst supportive and engaged peers who only want the best out of each recording as much as I did.
Emily Linane: Recording week was hectic. I was constantly replying to emails due to the pandemic (if someone was isolating) as well as making sure my ensemble was at a professional performance standard. The recording sessions were difficult, it was a challenge to work with an ensemble that is socially distanced as the balance and tuning of instruments are affected by the distance between each ensemble member. This meant more time was needed for the sound recording team to make sure all microphones and cameras covered every member of the band and were playing at equal volume! The recording sessions were extremely collaborative and it was amazing to be a part of something which brought so many different groups of Practical Project together.
Sandy Rowland: Conducting for the experimental music group was a bit of an experiment! The odd rhythms of “Clapping Music” made it tricky to find and stick to a consistent 6 beat pattern. In the end, closing my eyes and counting very loudly in my head to drown out the syncopated clapping worked a treat, and the final result was good fun!
