Should female musicians be allowed to dress how they want?

By Classic FM, London

Peut-on laisser les musiciennes s'habiller comme elles veulent ? - Aliette de Laleu

03:15

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Here’s exactly what French journalist Aliette de Laleu has to say about the matter.

Aliette de Laleu is a journalist on the radio station France Musique, who every week during her show leads a discussion about a female composer, musician or conductor.

This week, it’s all about Yuja Wang. Recently, an unnamed male conductor shared an image of the pianist on his public Facebook page, with the caption, as Aliette quotes: “She’s definitely got great legs. But the question is: is she wearing small knickers?” [translated]. The comments under the video were of a similar nature.

Aliette argues that while opera stars and performers wear brightly coloured clothing to bring drama to their performance, orchestral musicians and instrumentalists are restricted to dark colours and ‘non-distracting’ clothes.

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Credit: Yuja Wang (Facebook)

We are too used to seeing musicians dressed conservatively, Aliette argues. “If Yuja Wang wants to wear a short sequined dress to play Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto, she is free to do so. We are free to criticise her dress if we want, but Yuja herself should not be insulted or reduced to a body.”

To anyone who feels offended by exposed flesh on stage, Aliette advises to “close your eyes. [...] If you like the music, all you need is two things: your ears and a little bit of heart.” 

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A music theory analysis of the new Taylor Swift single

25 August 2017, Classic FM London

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What musical tricks has Taylor Swift deployed for her comeback? It’s time to get technical…

After the pure pop of her last album, Taylor Swift is keen to make an impact - and not just with her playground-insult lyrics. Let’s cast aside the absolute cavalcade of shade-throwing in her words and focus on the musical techniques Swift is using here to get her point across. Please enjoy ‘Look What You Made Me Do’:

Before a single word is sung, there’s a brilliantly creaky Bernard Herrmann-esque string refrain, adorned with delicate pizzicato. It’s the kind of atmosphere building you’d get at the beginning of a creepy kids film, maybe a hint of Danny Elfman, in equal parts nostalgic and genuinely menacing, and possibly aligned with Swift recasting herself as… gasp… a villain? 

But because we’re in the business of popular song, you really have to move on quickly once you’ve established your tone. So we’re ushered into the new Taylor Swift aural aesthetic, which seems to be intense, intricate minimalism. Drum machines programmed with the bare minimum of fuss, a four-note melody and a throbbing, glissando bass drop are all we get until the bridge, which is even simpler - a two-note vocal melody, octave-spaced and alternating between the first and fifth degrees of the scale. This is all calculated, measured and meticulously performed: no slides into the blue notes, not a hint of showboating. Behind, a piano begins to gently thunder. It is, for a few moments, magnificent. 

And then… chorus. Well, what you WISH was a chorus.

via GIPHY

Now, don’t get us wrong. It’s important to try things out, to experiment. But to deprive the listener of the gratification that a melodic monster chorus would surely provide is cruel. What should (logically) be an absolute banger is rendered cold by a chorus that sticks to nothing more than those drum machines and a spoken refrain. 

There’s an argument for either side here. On the one hand, Swift could be deliberately withholding that chorus we know she can deliver because that is what ‘old’ Taylor Swift would’ve done. On the other hand, it might be that she thought this was a good enough pay-off. 

And that’s before you consider the context here. We agreed not to look at the lyrics too closely, but the opening not-tricky-to-decipher barbs directed at Kanye West become altogether more interesting when you think about Swift’s instrumentation. Would it be overthinking it to suggest that, after Kanye’s 808s & Heartbreak album, to use drum machines in this sparse a fashion on a major pop song is a bit dicey? Whether or not Taylor Swift is leading us up the garden path with all this extra baggage and side-eye, the musical result is confusing. Interesting, but confusing. 

via GIPHY

The second verse and bridge are still more satisfying, delightfully augmented since their first iteration, which makes the second hollow chorus all the more frustrating (and those lyrics really don't scan correctly). Swift could’ve gone full Bond-song here, eked every ounce of devilish romance from that string arrangement, but she didn’t. It’s either impressive restraint or just a bad decision. 

As the song concludes, the frustration is complete - the final chorus hints at the splendour that could’ve been, providing a skeletal version of all that potential bombast but refusing to deliver it fully. So is Taylor Swift now a musical prankster, a compositionally capricious innovator with an ear for the absurd? We’ll have to sample the rest of the new album when it arrives in November…

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Ten Worst Things about being a Conductor

By Classic FM London

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Even though they get to stand at the front and look important, it's a tough life being a conductor. Here are the downsides to the top job.

1. Unflattering photographs

So whenever you think you're doing a really emotive face in that delicate section of Brahms 2, it's actually more like this:

(Photo: Chris Christodolou)

2. People who say 'don't you just stand at the front and wave your arms?'

No. No we do not.

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3. Surly brass sections

Look how Leonard Bernstein handles these back-row wise guys.

4. Big moments make you look weird

Riccardo Chailly is a magnificent man, please don't get us wrong. But conducting makes you do some strange things with your body.

5. Polo necks

You may start out as one of those young, cool conductors who wears whatever they like to rehearsals. But the polo neck will claim you. It will hunt you down and consume you. Fear it.

6. Unanswerable questions

"Maestro, should we begin this phrase with up-bows or down-bows?"

(via Imgur)

7. When the orchestra can't keep up

JUST GO AT THE SAME SPEED AS MY HANDS HOW HARD IS IT

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8. Soloists in concertos

"If you could have the cadenza finished in the next couple of hours, that'd be great. I'll just stand here."

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9. Studying scores in your spare time

Musicians have practising, which at least makes a nice sound. Reading scores is way boring.

10. Musicians

Yeah, yeah, they're 'essential' to an orchestra. But come on guys. If you just left the playing to conductors then they wouldn't even need to be told how to play the pieces correctly, right?

(via Blogspot)

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Ten Things You do when you're a massive classical music nerd

10 things you do when you're a massive classical music nerd

By Classic FM London

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What are the little habits, tics and defining features of a true classical music nerd? And more importantly, how many of them are you secretly guilty of?

1. You always do the harmony whenever anyone sings 'Happy Birthday'

"What do you mean I was the only one doing it?! All you have to do is knock it up a third when you get to the fourth 'Birthday' and the rest is easy..."

2. You make sure you sit on the 'keyboard side' of the concert hall

"Because I'm interested in how his left hand will cope with the Alberti bass in the first movement."

3. You order your CD collection chronologically, by musical period

"...and you'll notice I have a separate section for English Renaissance. Because it came after the Flemish Renaissance. Obviously."

4. When you see a 'Hooked on Classics' CD in a friend's collection, you make a note never to socialise with them ever again

"What they did to the Karelia Suite was unforgiveable. Now get out of my sight."

5. Rather than Beat The Intro, you play Guess The BWV Number with your friends

"Hmm, it doesn't seem to be in the right key for Amore Traditore, but I know that melody anywhere..."

6. You immediately disregard the 'Classical' equaliser preset on a new hi-fi and customise your own

"The sonorities just aren't working for me. I can barely hear that counter-melody in the basses."

7. You have an opinion on which set of Glenn Gould Goldberg Variations is superior

"Has to be the 1955 recording. I don't want to hear him singing over the top like Elton John."

8. You know which door of the Royal Albert Hall you need to go to just from your seat number

"Thanks for your concern, usher, but if you don't mind I'm heading to the North Circle Bar..."

9. You're able to close your eyes in a concert and not fall asleep

"The multicoloured seats in the Barbican are not going to distract me from the majesty of The Rite Of Spring. See you in half an hour."

10. You only cough in silences

"I tried to time it with the cymbal crash but the percussionist was a half-bar late. Amateur."

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