Note-Taking as Assistant Conductor

In today's episode, I will be sharing how I take notes as an assistant conductor when working for an ensemble - both instrumental or vocal, or in an opera production.

RELATED EPISODES - check them out if you haven't already!

Season 1: LIVE: Assistant Conductor Positions with Michelle Di Russo and Michelle Rofrano

Season 3: Ask Me Anything with Orchestra Conductors [panel discussion in 2024]

𝗞𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗹, 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence & former Assistant Conductor, Memphis Symphony

𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲 𝗗𝗶 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗼, Dudamel Fellow, LA Philharmonic; Associate Conductor, North Carolina Symphony

𝗙𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮, Assistant Conductor & Diversity Fellow, Buffalo Philharmonic

𝗦𝘂𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗫𝗶𝗮, Associate Conductor, Seattle Symphony

All About Chaowen Ting 

Transcript

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Hello, hello, welcome back to the Conductors Podcast. The topic for today's discussion is note taking as an assistant conductor. We are going to talk about how I took note and what are some tricks that I learned from my colleagues, both as the assistant conductor for an ensemble, whether that is an instrumental ensemble like a band and orchestra or a vocal ensemble, a choir, or even for chamber ensembles. And then the second part, I will be talking about what do I usually do when I am assisting an opera production. Because the opera production has more joints involved. And also the rehearsals are much longer. The way I take notes and deliver notes are slightly different. And before we dive into today's discussion, I wanted to remind you if you haven't already, there were two episodes where I talked to my colleagues who were assistant conductors or associate conductors back then during the time of our interview. The first one is a recording of a live session with assistant conductors back then. Michelle DeRosso, who was the assistant conductor back then with the North Carolina Symphony, but now she has taken the role as the music director of the Delaware Symphony. And also Michelle Rafrano. So we were talking about how to work with different conductors, guest conductors, and also working in different fields as an orchestral or in the operatic world. The differences and the similarities. That was a really good one. The other one is more recent, that is from the last season. It was also a live recording from a panel discussion. Actually, it was entitled Ask Me Anything with Orchestra Conductors. And that panel discussion happened in 2024 with Colina Bovell, who is the former assistant conductor of the Memphis Symphony. Michelle DeRusso again, she was then already promoted as associate conductor with the North Carolina Symphony. And also Fernanda Lastra, who was back then during the time of the panel discussion, the assistant conductor, and also the diversity fellow with the Baffle of Yamoring and Sunny Shah, who was the associate conductor with the Seattle Symphony. That was also a really, really good one, which I loved both as connecting with my colleagues and also to share some of our observations and experiences in this industry. Again, there were two previous episodes where I interviewed my colleagues focusing on the role of as an assistant conductor. I'm going to link these two episodes in the show notes. If you haven't listened to them, it's a great one to listen. And if you have already, it's not a bad idea to review it. Okay, now let's dive into taking notes as an assistant conductor. When I was the assistant conductor for the Augusta Symphony, what I usually do is I take notes in two different places. I have some notes in my score and also have a separate notebook, a physical notebook where I write down important things. What are those important things that I'll share in a moment? I personally try to reframe from using any electric devices during rehearsal because to be totally honest, I am too easily distracted when I have my phone or when I have my iPad. And also it's just personal preferences that I don't study well on an iPad, even though I know having a score, um like having the PDF of many, many scores on an iPad is handy that you don't have to travel with a lot of books. But it's just personal that on one hand, um, the iPad is never big enough for me to see two pages at a time while still able to see the notes and the articulations clearly on the score. Um, the other is as I said, I'm too easily distracted. When I have my phone, if I or if I'm taking notes on my phone, I will probably just quickly check the email or quickly check a message or quickly answer something that was asked like five minutes ago, which was not urgent, or quickly just do something else. Um, so when I'm in rehearsal, when I'm working, I try really, really hard not to have my phone around me. So on my notebook, I have two big important pieces of information written out. On my notebook, I divide the page into two parts. On the right is usually just the prodigal information, more logistical. I write down, of course, the name of the ensemble that I'm working with, the date and the time. And on the right is more like a time log of the rehearsal. Um, it reads something like that. So um it's rehearsal one of four. Say if we have four rehearsals for this performance, I would write this as one of the four, and our rehearsal today is three to five: thirty, and I'll just write down what happened during those times. So, say three o'clock tuning and announcement 3.02. We start running through, say, Brahm's second symphony. Um, first movement, and um, after 15 minutes, the tongue conductor stopped and rehearsed. So I'll just write down 3.02 until say 3:15. It's a run through of the first minute and then rehearse, or maybe it goes on to the second movement and then it takes a break at what time. Um, and then maybe we go back to the first movement and um rehearse a few things and go to the concetto or go to another piece. So on the right part, it's basically just a rehearsal log. Um, after a few rehearsals, you start to see the pattern or the personal preferences of each conductor. Some conductors like to run through a lot, which of course you will feel it in rehearsal. And some conductors like to um rehearse every single piece in one rehearsal. So every piece is touched at least once in the rehearsal, and then it's more repetition. Some conductors like to dive into details a lot sooner. Um, some of them would maybe do a chunk of, say, the first half of the first movement and then start rehearsing right away and correct things. Some like to run through things and make sure everybody gets the um tempo markings, the beat markings and all that, and then start doing things. There are good and bad um parts of each rehearsal method, um, but it's also like a good way to just kind of keep a track um how people organize rehearsal time. Especially if you are working with a union orchestra. Um, we know union is very strict about when the break is, when you can take break, how long the breaks are, um, with all that. So learning to manage your time well and efficiently, effectively is really important. Um, now that is just the logistical part, and this is usually on the right side of my notebook. On the left side, it's more like the big bullet point of uh problems. Um, I would say it's basically it's more like a detailed explanation of what's going wrong during that chunk that was not dated on the right part. Say the run through of the Brown Symphony, and I would just write on very, very big things. And the big things need to focus on balance. As we all know, balance is one thing that people cannot judge correctly or objectively on stage, um, because of the acoustics of the hall, the design of the hall, or even sometimes the set of the musicians. Um, some connector will play, say, um, cello on one side, or some do the Viennus style to have the first and second violin on the two different sides, or even with choirs. If you are having you know A T B um in groups and next to each other, or some conductors you mixed, you know, like um soprano and alto mixed together, or tenure and a bass and in the middle, treble voices outside, um, they are all going to affect the projection of sound. And that is something that the conductor really needs your help with. Of course, you're going to pick up some other things, like this transition doesn't really work, the same mistake was repeated three times, and the conductor still didn't address it. I might leave it there and um say if if the conductor asked, but I might address it. It really depends. Um, so basically, I'm writing down big things. Um, say um at letter N, um, the trumpet are too loud, so I'm not going to use trumpet as an example. Or at um at 534 rehearsal K, um, first violent solo was not heard. Or in this session, the duet between clarinet and viola, um, the clarinet was overpowering the viola. Or with that part where the cello and bassoon are having a dialogue that we don't really hear that line because the accompaniments were too much. Um, or with a conceto, this part when the soloist goes up high or goes up low, that we're really bearing their sound. Those are big things. Um, so I write them down, of course, again in chronological order as they happen in them in the rehearsal, and I keep it as the left side of my notebook. Then the next time, the next rehearsal, I will compare the notes, say letter N, okay. Um, this brass session is still too loud. Then I am going to write that again, or just say, just write really quickly, letter N, um, brass. Um, if something is fixed the next time, I will go back and just put a check mark on it, saying, okay, this was a problem in the first rehearsal, and then this was this was taken care of. Either the collector had addressed it, or the the players are now more familiar with the music, so they changed the way of their playing themselves, and so on. Um, so my notebook is basically um like a big picture. In the right column is the practical information, the logisticals, how time was spent, and uh the left column contains the big problems that might be solved over time, or they might be new problems. You know, sometimes when they start rushing um, or things that was getting really messy, that the conductor might be busy, that they haven't got to that point. I would write it down. Okay, so that is the part of my notebook note-taking. Uh two other things that are super important that I not take in my score are one beat pattern. So, one of the jobs of an assistant conductor is uh you need to assume that if anything, God forbid, happened to the conductor, say an hour before, and the conductor has uh food poisoning. I hope that is not happening to anyone, or um the conductor is stuck in traffic that it cannot get here on time. So it's like anything, if anything happened to the conductor, this the assistant conductor needs to step in and conduct as closely as possible as the original conductor. So the two big things of that are one big pattern. If the conductor is in two here, you have to be in two. If they are dividing the 6a into six, or grouping those bars into the remiolum, um, doing this in one, or when they switch from one to three at this bar, you need to know that. And you need to follow that through no matter how your own interpretation is when you're stepping in as the decision conductor. Another really, really big point is tempo. Um, so I learned this from my colleague Timothy Verville, who is the music director of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra, who I work with a lot. Um, he said he would use a metronome to tap out the major temples of each section and use a post-it on it. Um, I started doing that too. Um, I found this to be really, really handy, and um it's a great way because it's objective. Um, so two big things that I put in my score are one big pattern and two metronal markings, which I usually use a post-it, and I write on big number and for each big section. Of course, there are other things that I write into my score, but that really depends. Um, maybe some of the interpretational ideas that I like, and I will write that in on the margin of the score. I put down the conductor's initial and the date. Say using my own initial CT, um, this section is tempo primo. And this tempo primo is not the previous session that is slightly slower, but this is referring to tempo primo of the very beginning of this movement. Um, that I will put it down. Where if there are things that I hear that will help me with my own understanding of the music, with my own score study, say, oh, there was something that was done differently that um that brought out a line that I didn't notice in the score, I will highlight that. Or a part is messier than I thought it would be, it's more difficult than I had imagined, and I will write an R-E-H, meaning that oh, this is a section that needs more rehearsal. Um, or some of the balanced things that I hear, I will write that down into my score. So this is basically how I take notes as the assistant conductor for an ensemble. A separate notebook, a physical notebook, I divide that into two. On one side, it's just logistical log for rehearsal. On the left, there are big, big ideas, big problems. This is something that if the conductor does ask me, okay, what did you hear? What are some big problems? That is something that I'm taking to the conductor during the meeting. And on the score, the two big things that I'm focusing on. One is big pattern, the other is tempo. So I will use a metronome and write the big number of the metronome marking on a post-it for each big section. And if there's anything that I pick up with my years for corrections or for score setting understandings, I usually write them in the margin of my score. Now let's come to the second half of today's discussion and talk about taking note as an assistant conductor for an opera production. If you're working with a professional opera company, a production usually lasts between two to six or even eight weeks. As the assistant conductor for the opera, my notebook is not for taking notes during rehearsals. When I'm learning an opera, I do use a separate notebook, but it's only for my score studying, not for note taking during the rehearsal. I will use a notebook to write out text if it's in a foreign language, to write out the original text and the translation. I will also write out the different character breakdowns, you know, following each character of where they sing, where they come on and off stage, and also um writing out the instrumentation list for each number. Say when is lower breast tacit, for example, or when do we need a third percussionist, um, that will always facilitate rehearsal. Um, I also write out a sing breakdown and know that which scene involves which singers and so on. But for rehearsals, always use both the piano vocal score and the four score. This is different for everyone, but I personally, if I were conducting an opera, I would only conduct every single rehearsal from the four score, even in staging rehearsals. Um, some conductors would switch between the vocal score because um that's what the singers are usually using. So it's a lot easier to reference the pages or things that is in the piano vocal score with singers when it's during staging without the orchestra. I just personally always only use the full score because I want to get used to and be familiar with the score layout and know where to look at what. And it's also a lot easier for me to look at that orchestration and give feedback to the director or to the singers as needed. But as I said before, because the singers almost always study from the piano vocal score, having that just right next to your full score is really handy and really important. When I am taking note in an opera production, the focus is different. Usually, as we said earlier, our focus for an ensemble is balance, assuming that you're either already in the performance hall or in a good rehearsal place where you can focus on hearing the right part at the right time. For an opera production, it's totally different. A lot of times you don't really get into the hall until the tech week. Um, and even if you do, the balance will not be as accurate because on one side you will not always have the full ensemble. It's hard to judge balance, for example, if you're doing a piano tech or a piano dress rehearsal. And um also sometimes the singers are not always singing out fully. They might be marking, they might be doing other things or focusing on acting and staging and all the other things instead of singing full out. So judging balance is usually so much later in the process for a opera rehearsal. Then, if we're not focusing and listening for balance, what are we doing as the assistant conductor? We're assisting everything that um is a little different. Um usually I will mark every single mistake that I hear during every single rehearsal. As little as inaccurate rhythm, um, missed entrances, or incorrect word, you know, sometimes it's uh or the um as with plural or it's um if it's wason in English, or the pronunciation is wrong, um, or a singer might be forgetting one text in the registrative a lot that they need to go back. A lot of times they do know. Um, if they come fully prepared, they will be aware that they make a mistake. Sometimes they are not. Um, and those are mostly for the cast members, but not only. Sometimes you can be taking notes on the temple, or it can be there can be notes for the pianist. And the placement of the assistant conductor of an opera in production is also different. For an ensemble rehearsal, the assistant conductor will be sitting in the audience. You'll be somewhere kind of like in the middle, so you're not too far out, but you can still hear what's going on on stage. Um, so you're not right next to the conductor. For an opera, it's different. During staging rehearsals, most of the time, you're right next to the conductor. So you are taking notes for yourself, meaning that oh, if I heard something different, like heard something wrong, I'm just like circling. Going on as my score, but I'm also catching whatever the conductor is telling me to do. In opera production, during the mid to the late part of the process, there starts to be a lot of things going on, and the conductor cannot always address the issues on the spot. Sometimes we are running through, sometimes it's not worth stopping to correct things. And sometimes there are a lot of other things where things changed. I would turn quickly to my assistant and say, hey, make sure we come back to this. Or take a note and I will give very quick verbal notes to my assistant. Also, the assistant conductor for an opera production will have a lot more interaction with the musicians, which is not usual and also not always expected if you were assisting an ensemble. Say if you heard that the woodwings are too soft in a section, you are not going to go to the woodwing players and tell them, play louder, we can't hear you. No, you are stepping on toes if you actually if you really do that. Your job for an ensemble is to address it to the conductor when they want you to tell them. And it's the conductor's rehearsal. But with opera rehearsals, a lot of times the singers might come up to you and ask, okay, did I do it right here? Um, because you know, when they are off score and there's so many things to remember, they might need to come and check with you very quickly. Hey, I forgot that word. Can you just like give me the words? Um, or hey, there's something I'm not sure. Can you go over this with me? And sometimes I will even send my assistant conductor to do coaching with a pianist if needed. Um the other thing that is different is I will have a lot of different colors of pen or pencils. I now use those erasable pens, I love them during rehearsals, especially again toward the later part of the process. Um, probably around the last day of the staging or starting the final round through, we will be going through the opera for a bigger chunk of part many, many times. Sometimes you are running through the entire X1 that can be, you know, ranging from 25 minutes to two hours, depending on which opera you are doing. And there can be so many things going on. So, what I do is for every day when we are doing big chunk runs, I will have one color for that day. Say uh Monday I'm doing green. So if this note is incorrect, I would usually circle the note and write too sharp. And the next day I am doing it again, and I'm saying say Tuesday, I'm marking in blue. This is still the same. I would circle it again. So next time when I come here, I will see that this is a repeated mistake. When it is repeated for a second day, I would usually address it. Um when it's corrected, I'll just put a check mark on it. So um, oh in all, um, to sum up, for opera note taking as the assistant conductor, I would always, always have both of the four score and the piano vocal score. For the four score, so I can give notes to the conductor and using the piano vocal score so I can communicate better with um with the singers. A lot of times, if you can tell them, hey, this is um vocal score page 329, the second system, they can find it so much easier and it save you a lot, a lot, a lot of time. The second thing is while I do not use a separate notebook for note-taking because the process is much longer, I do use the notebook for my own score study, and that's another topic to discuss for another day. But I write most of the notes in my scores, and the score and the corrections are not focusing on balancing as opposed to if I were assisting for an ensemble, but for all kinds of mistakes. Say a note is sharp, a wrong note, a wrong rhythm, a wrong entrance, someone didn't rest long enough, or say someone didn't carry a note long enough, or if there is a chorus that the chorus didn't release the final consonant together, say we want to do the um of street um at the fine on a certain beat, anything and everything on I will take note on that. And note given, which means um delivering the notes to the cast or to the conductor, really depends on your relationship with the cast and with the conductor. As the assistant, the first thing you do is assist in the conductor. So you do everything the conductor needs. If the conductor trusts you and gives you the authorization to go ahead and give notes to the cast without checking with them first, go ahead and do that. I've done that millions of times because during the really long process, I cannot catch everything. And it's always good to have another pair of ears and eyes, because you know, sometimes it had happened that my assistant is stricter than me. Um, sometimes I would think, okay, this mistake is there. Yes, that's that was a mistake. That was not exactly what was written on the score, but I felt that might be serving the dramatic flow, so I'll be okay with it. But I've had assistants that felt that that can be done so much better, and they would go ahead and work with that particular cast and fix those things, and the results were great. So um I think it's always important to really learn the relationship and the dynamic between you and your conductor and find a good way to assist. And the final note is I always use a lot, a lot, a lot more colors for an opera production, especially during the last week, starting from like the day before final room run to during tech week and to dress rehearsals, dress rehearsals. Um, I would use different colors every single day. So I could see very clearly if that is a repeated problem that we need to fix. Okay, so today we talked about note-taking as an assistant conductor. That question was first brought to me by one of the fellows um when we had a fellowship program between Girls Who Conduct and Georgia Symphony Orchestra. And she asked me, say, hey, we always know um we need to take notes as an assistant, but no one really told me what to do, what and what not to do, and how to do it. So we had a panel discussion around that. And I also shared a few tips and tricks that I learned from my colleagues. I hope you found today's episode useful. And thank you again for listening. Have a great day, and I'll see you next time.