MARIPOSA, Michelle Mariel C.

MuC 110-C
Dr. Bevely Shangkuan-Cheng

Reflection Paper 1: Verleih uns Frieden (Mendelssohn)

Upon watching my video and consolidating the things Dr. Cheng told me during the masterclass,
I realized that my biggest challenge is to embody the “Less is more” philosophy in my
conducting gestures. I started the masterclass conducting m. 64 of the piece—the instrumental
transition to the grander third strophe of Verleih uns Frieden. As I envisioned (through
audiation) the music growing, my gestures grew as well, but in the wrong direction—higher up,
instead of lower in my body. Looking at the video, I was conducting almost above my head, and
I realized that, because my gestures were already so high up, I couldn’t grow as much anymore.
Another aspect I noticed was how I would constantly move my whole body forward (especially
my shoulders), towards the choir, when I wanted certain expressive elements to come out. (It’s
something I struggle with in my singing, as well.) Before I knew it, I was already so close to the
music stand, and it became quite difficult to take a step back.
Dr. Cheng’s first comments centered on the last two measures of the piece. She
mentioned how, in the last measure, I should think of and show “nothing.” I noticed that, for the
last measure, I would give an accented downbeat, thinking that it was a way to somehow control
the resulting sound, when in fact, especially with the nature of Verleih uns Frieden, indeed, less
is more, and the ending just tapers off. “Nothing is enough.” And indeed, when I applied it
during the masterclass, the results were hugely different, although it’s really difficult to
discipline my mind and body to be satisfied with “nothing.”
Dr. Cheng’s next comments centered on the height of my conducting gestures. I noticed
that by conducting lower in my body, I felt more in control of the expressive elements I wanted
to extract from the choir. Dr. Cheng’s mention of feeling resistance was also a big help, as it
allowed me to feel more expressive and emotive weight in my arms when conducting, reminding
me to keep my conducting low and to give more intention to my strokes. Along with that, Dr.
Cheng pointed out that I had the tendency to use my head and shoulders in cuing or in signaling
crescendos. The solution would be to think more horizontally, rather than vertically, such that I
don’t have to do so much in conducting the choir (still a “Less is more” extension). When I tried
it, coupled with the idea of “nothing” during the tapering of the phrase on m. 77, it was so
effective in terms of the sound I wanted to hear.
Going back to the beginning of Verleih uns Frieden, and applying Dr. Cheng’s comments
on conducting low and thinking more in the horizontal framework, I think I was able to
effectively bring out the elements I wanted in the introduction.
Jumping to the next transitional section before the second strophe, Dr. Cheng pointed out
that, during more expressive moments, my upper arms tended to go along with my conducting,
especially when conducting passages in forte. In the moment, it felt much needed, especially
when I felt that the singers weren’t giving a true forte yet, but in the video, it was clear that it
really was too much. It’s something I need to really work on, though, because there were times in
the video that I still didn’t notice my upper arms doing too much work.
I am left with much to discipline with myself in terms of both my psyche and my body
during conducting. I think daily mirror practice would be very effective in helping me be more
mindful of my gestures.