KENT STATE UNIVERSITY ORCHESTRA SYLLABUS Fall Semester, 2016 COURSE NUMBERS: Undergraduate: 45212 Masters: 55212 Doctoral: 75212 PREREQUISITES: 45212: Audition 55212: Graduate standing and audition 75212: Doctoral standing and audition ORCHESTRA DIRECTOR: Dr. Katherine Kilburn Office: CPA, room D209 Office hours by appointment, please. Office phone: (330) 672-9235 E-mail: kkilbur1@kent.edu BULLETIN BOARD: Because the personnel changes from piece to piece, and therefore not all members of the Orchestra are required for all rehearsals, communication with the entire membership of the Orchestra will be by announcements posted on the KSU Orchestra Bulletin Board, which is located across the hallway from the School of Music office. Each member of the Orchestra is required to check the bulletin board on a regular basis, at least three times each week. This is the ONLY official notification of rosters and rehearsal schedules. REHEARSALS: Regular rehearsals are held in Ludwig Recital Hall from 2:15 PM to 4:10 PM Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Additional rehearsal times and concert times are listed on the Kent State University Orchestra Calendar. The times listed for the rehearsals, both regular class times and special rehearsals, are the actual beginning times. Members of the Orchestra should be in place and warmed up, ready for tuning at the time listed. A rehearsal schedule indicating the rehearsal times for specific pieces will be posted every Monday morning. Please check the Orchestra bulletin board, across from the School of Music office, for schedule changes. Pencils are required at all rehearsals. RECITAL HALL: Please note that, in accordance with School of Music policy, food and drink are not allowed in the Recital Hall or Carol Cartwright Hall. Water bottles are fine. PERFORMANCE DRESS CODE: Women: Solid, long-sleeved (at least ¾ length) black blouses, floor-length black skirts or dress slacks, black shoes, no jewelry. Men: Black tuxedo, white shirt, black bow tie, black shoes, black socks. Not acceptable: bare shoulders, arms, or midriffs; sweaters, black t-shirts, spandex or lycra-type pants, jeans, sweatpants, open toed shoes, sandals. INSTRUMENT CASES: Whenever possible, do not bring your instrument case on stage with you for rehearsals or performances. Leave them backstage or in the hall. Clutter onstage causes accidents and reduces rehearsal efficiency. MOBILE PHONES: Your mobile phone should not be in the rehearsal room with you. Mobile phones should never be on stage during rehearsal or performance. (That includes your pockets.) Please leave your phone in your instrument case, locker, etc. PRACTICE: Each member of the Orchestra is expected to practice the repertoire outside Orchestra rehearsals on a regular basis, and to come to each rehearsal prepared for the music to be rehearsed that day. Rehearsals are meant to work on our collective sound as an ensemble; they are not meant for you to learn your individual parts.
CALENDAR: Be sure you have a copy of the Kent State University Orchestra Calendar. This calendar lists the dates, times, and locations for extra rehearsals, dress rehearsals, performances, and special events. Please mark all of these activities in your personal calendar and please note that these dates and times are subject to change, however I will do my best to alert you of any changes as far in advance as possible. CLASS EXCUSES: If you need to miss another class because of an Orchestra activity, please contact the Director of the Orchestra for a class excuse. GRADING: Grading is based on effort during rehearsals and performances, appropriate outside preparation of parts, completion of assigned duties, promptness in arrival at rehearsals and performances, proper marking of parts (in pencil only), appropriate care of parts and folders (see below), and attendance (as explained below under Attendance Policy). ATTENDANCE POLICY: Members of the Orchestra are expected to attend all assigned rehearsals and performances. The final grade for the semester will be reduced one letter grade for each unexcused absence, as follows (based on a starting grade of A): Number of unexcused absences Highest possible grade 0 A 1 B 2 C 3 D 4 or more F All performances and dress rehearsals are mandatory. The final grade for the semester will be an F for any student absent from a performance or dress rehearsal without being excused. The following situations will be considered for excused absences: 1. Illness that prevents the student from attending a rehearsal or performance If at all possible, the student should notify the Director of the Orchestra in advance. The student should complete an Excuse Form upon returning to class. Any appropriate documentation (note from doctor, dentist, or Health Center, etc.) should be attached to the form. Note: Regular non-emergency medical or dental appointments should be scheduled at times that do not conflict with rehearsals or performances. Absences for such appointments will not be excused. 2. Death or serious illness in the student's immediate family If at all possible, the student should notify the Director of the Orchestra in advance. The student should complete an Excuse Form upon returning to class. 3. Approved conflicts, such as ensemble tours and run-out concerts, class field trips, required conferences, competitions, and approved professional activities. The Director of the Orchestra should be notified, and an Excuse Form should be submitted as far in advance as possible, normally at least two weeks. Appropriate documentation should be attached to the form. Note: For ensemble tours and run-out concerts, ensemble directors generally send a memo to the School of Music faculty. Even when this is the case, the student is responsible for notifying the Director of the Orchestra and for submitting the Excuse Form in advance. Note: The fact that a student is scheduled to perform a recital the evening following an afternoon Orchestra rehearsal is not appropriate grounds for an excused absence. However, if the student requests well in advance of the rehearsal (at least two weeks), the Director of the Orchestra will attempt to plan the rehearsal with special consideration for the student playing the recital.
Being late for a rehearsal counts as one-half an absence, with the exception of the following: 1. If the student is detained by a KSU instructor, the student should bring a note from the instructor. 2. If the student has a class that regularly prevents the student from arriving on time, the student should notify the Director at the beginning of the semester. When a student is late for a rehearsal it is the student's responsibility to submit an Excuse Form. Otherwise, the attendance record may show an unexcused absence. Any student whose highest possible grade drops to a C due to that student s being absent or late for rehearsals and/or performances may be dismissed from the Orchestra at the discretion of the Director. The submission of a completed Excuse Form does not automatically result in an approved excuse. The completed Excuse Form is a petition to be excused with no penalty. The Director of the Orchestra determines whether the excuse will be approved. When it is necessary for a member of the Orchestra to miss a rehearsal, both the Director of the Orchestra and the appropriate Orchestra Principal should be notified as far in advance as possible. If it is necessary for a woodwind, brass, or percussion player to miss a rehearsal, that player should arrange for a substitute, unless told otherwise by the Director of the Orchestra. If it is necessary for a string player to miss a rehearsal, and if that player has the official stand part, its essential for that player to make sure the part is available at the rehearsal. NON-CREDIT MEMBERS: Although most students participating in the Orchestra should be enrolled for credit, it is possible to be a non-credit member of the Orchestra. Non-credit members are expected to follow the same policies and procedures as those who are receiving credit. MARKING OF PARTS: Parts should be marked in pencil only. Appropriate marking of parts is critical to the success of the Orchestra. Each player is responsible for making appropriate markings in parts during rehearsals. For most pieces string parts will be distributed with complete bowings, but occasionally string players will be asked to write in the bowings from a master part. Any bowing changes made in rehearsal should be marked clearly in the parts used in the rehearsal and then transferred to all other parts, including practice parts not used in rehearsal. Failure to mark parts appropriately may result in the reduction of one letter grade. CARE OF PARTS AND FOLDERS: Please take good care of Orchestra folders and all parts. Some parts, especially rental materials, are very expensive to replace. All parts should be turned in by the announced due date. Note: Each member of the Orchestra is responsible for each part received. The player who received a part is responsible for that part, even if it is loaned to another player in the Orchestra. The player is responsible for the replacement cost, including shipping and handling charges, of any part lost or damaged while the part is signed out to that player. Cost of replacement parts, including rental parts, generally ranges from $5.00 to $150.00 each. If a player does not return a part, that player will be required to cover the cost of the part plus an additional $25.00. If individual parts are not available, the player is responsible for the cost of an entire set, generally in the range of $200.00 to $800.00. Any player who has not either turned in all appropriate parts by the announced deadline, or made arrangements for replacement of parts lost or damaged, will receive a grade of F. In addition, grades may be held by the University. Making expectations clear: What s expected of you as an orchestra member? I expect you to do a certain amount of preparation before each and every rehearsal. How much preparation you do depends on your current skill level, the difficulty of the pieces, and where we are in
the rehearsal process. But the primary purpose of orchestra rehearsals is to learn how to play our parts together so that the entire orchestra sounds as good as possible. The purpose of an orchestra rehearsal is not for you to slowly learn your individual part one note at a time. That may have been the way your high school orchestra or band or choir worked, but it s not the way your college orchestra works. I will do my absolute best to ensure that you have information before the first rehearsal about the repertoire we re playing. And I also work to ensure that you have parts to practice as far in advance as possible. The library work for an orchestra is enormous. Professional orchestras, like The Cleveland Orchestra employ several full-time orchestra librarians. We don t have full-time orchestra librarians here to serve you. You ll need to do some basic work on your own to be prepared. What should you know before the first rehearsal? Which pieces we re playing, and whether or not you re playing each of those pieces. Whether you re going to need extra equipment for those pieces: mutes, piccolos, Eb trumpets, etc. You should at least listen to the pieces we re playing before the first rehearsal, so you re already familiar with the styles, tempos, and general feel of the pieces. If you re playing a world premiere piece, or something that isn t already recorded, you could actually look at the music. Generally your parts give some clues about tempo, style, etc. It s NOT OK to come into the first rehearsal of a standard work, such as the Dvorak New World Symphony and have no idea how fast the third movement goes. That s pretty basic stuff. If it s fairly standard rep, but you don t have your part yet, go look it up on IMSLP http://www.imslp.org. Just about any orchestral piece that s in the public domain will show up on IMSLP. You should look up the meaning of unfamiliar words before the first rehearsal and write the meaning in your part. Find the tricky parts of the piece before the first rehearsal. If you ve practiced them you ll find that they re much easier to master once you ve played them in a group. Do your best to have a basic knowledge of the pieces and roughly how they should sound. What s expected of you at the rest of the rehearsals? Constant improvement. If something doesn t go well for you in rehearsal, you should actively work to make it go better in the future. Come with musical ideas. Professional orchestras play at such a high level with so few rehearsals because their musicians all show up to rehearsals with ideas about how the music should be played. If you have a big solo, you should have a strong opinion about the style, phrasing, articulations, etc. Give all of your attention and effort all of the time. We don t rehearse just for the sake of rehearsing. We rehearse to play the greatest music possible at the highest level possible. So work to be awesome in the first rehearsal! If the first rehearsal isn t perfect, work for constant improvement. As we get stronger as an orchestra and as musicians, our understanding of what s musically or physically possible will change. BE GREAT! Make MUSIC in rehearsals. Every note from every instrument is important. Listen to how your part works with others. Listen to which parts you re supporting, and figure out when you switch from a supporting role to a leading role. PERFORM! Let s get rid of the complete dichotomy between rehearsal and performance. Too often we make a mental separation between the two. But isn t a rehearsal just a series of performances for a smaller audience? When you re practicing, and when you re rehearsing, and when you re just playing scales as a warm-up, try performing all the time. If you perform all the time, instead of practicing sometimes and performing other times, you ll become a much better musician very quickly. What s expected of you in performance? PERFORM! Pour your heart into getting the piece across the front of the stage to the audience. Imagine the composer sitting in the room and work to play the piece better than that composer
will ever hear it again. Just make music! Forget about the problems with the piece. When you re performing, if there s a scale or a high note, or some other thing you re afraid of, let go of that fear and go for it! There s nothing you can do about it now. Either you re prepared or you aren t. So think about the whole piece and where that spot fits in. Play through the difficult passage and make it a part of the whole. If you re well prepared it will go well. If you aren t well prepared, then do your best! Memo to Students: A) University policy 3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas for more information on registration procedures). B) It is the student s responsibility to ensure proper enrollment in classes. You are advised to review your official class schedule to ensure proper enrollment. If registration errors are not corrected by the published deadlines and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive credit for the course at the conclusion of the semester. Every class has its own schedule of deadlines and considerations. To view the add/drop schedule and other important dates for this class, go to FlashLine and choose Print Student Schedule on the Student Tools & Courses tab to see the deadlines for the course (use the CRN for this class). Course Learning Outcomes: 1. The students will improve performance skills through rehearsals. 2. The students will demonstrate ensemble musicianship skill through public performance. In-class activities that support Outcomes: Structured ensemble rehearsal and public performance.