Introduction

The Introduction explains the purpose and method of the book: to improve the musical imagination through creative, fun exercises based on improvisational theater games that have been reimagined for musicians. A sense of playfulness and spontaneity is central to this approach. The primary goal of developing the mind’s ear is to improve the ability to imagine and remember music in silence and to be able to hear in the mind music that is printed on the page without the aid of instrument. It is essential to attend to the musician’s inner life, to explore emotions in relation to musical expression, rather than only emphasize the physical challenges of instrumental technique. Strengthening emotional memory as actors are trained to do, as well as deliberately exercising the imagination and the mind’s ear will lead to more meaningful performances, more personal compositions, and will enrich the listening experience. The introduction also addresses related concepts in subsections: Something to Say; On Interpretation; On Performing New Music; Hearing in Silence.

Exercises Involving Groups

There is an actor in every musician, and these exercises tap into the theatrical nature of music-making. Closer to pure theater games than the other exercises in this book, the exercises in this brief but essential section provide a variety of ways for groups to explore musical and theatrical expressivity without needing to play musical instruments. The exercises here are fun yet challenging experiments that consider issues of tempo, range, dynamics, phrasing, silence, ensemble coordination, communication, conducting, improvised counterpoint, and much more, through the use of spoken text, improvised speech, noises, and movement. These exercises might be used as warmups before group rehearsals, whether of a chorus, chamber ensemble, band, or orchestra. They are designed to support positive group interaction and build trust and confidence while having fun and learning together.

PERSPECTIVAS ESTÉTICO-EXISTENCIAIS DO JOGO TEATRAL

Neste artigo, abordaremos um experimento cênico bilíngue sobre a peça Entre Quatro Paredes [Huis Clos, 1944], de Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), problematizando-a por meio da noção de jogo teatral. Com esse propósito, interpelaremos o sistema de Jogos Teatrais [Theater Games], elaborado por Viola Spolin (1906-1994), articulando-o ao pensamento do autor francês, a fim de apontar perspectivas existenciais sobre a relação entre texto e cena em um contexto estético-pedagógico.

PERSPECTIVAS ESTÉTICO-EXISTENCIAIS DO JOGO TEATRAL

Neste artigo, abordaremos um experimento cênico bilíngue sobre a peça Entre Quatro Paredes [Huis Clos, 1944], de Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), problematizando-a por meio da noção de jogo teatral. Com esse propósito, interpelaremos o sistema de Jogos Teatrais [Theater Games], elaborado por Viola Spolin (1906-1994), articulando-o ao pensamento do autor francês, a fim de apontar perspectivas existenciais sobre a relação entre texto e cena em um contexto estético-pedagógico.

An Interdisciplinary Conducting Curriculum: Selected Theater Games From Viola Spolin’s “Improvisation for the Theater”

This article presents a series of theater games with clear connections to conducting and rehearsing music ensembles, explaining both how to play them and how young conductors will benefit from the experience. These games are published in Viola Spolin’s seminal text Improvisation for the Theater, which presents a series of exercises that foster communication, creativity, immediacy, and spontaneity. Many games also focus on creating and communicating character through physical movement and posture, awareness of the body in space, and manipulation of “space objects,” which are imaginary props made real in the mind of the observer through understanding of shared human experiences. Theater games are effectively experienced in short periods of time, intended for players of all ability and experience levels, and encourage immediate emotive communication, making them highly effective for young conductors and easily incorporated into undergraduate and graduate conducting classes.

Migration and the French Colonial Atlantic as Imagined by the Periodical Press, 1740–61

Why did the French show so little enthusiasm for emigration to their early modern colonies, compared to other European peoples? In 2006, historian Yves Landry proposed that the image of America communicated to the French reading public by print media might have played a role in this phenomenon. This article examines this question by showing how America in general, and French colonies in particular, were represented in the Ancien Régime's three most prominent periodicals: the weekly news Gazette, the literary Mercure de France and the learned Journal des Savants. Through a combination of distant reading methods, the article builds a three-layered portrait of the New World as displayed to French readers. The first layer, made up of references to America in theater, games and other cultural artefacts built upon common knowledge, shows an unchanging, alien land filled with riches and glory for the few, mortal threats for the many, and the best, perhaps, set aside for foreigners. A second layer, made up of the periodicals' coverage of the slow production of knowledge through science and exploration, edulcorates this picture to some extent by showing that the New World is in the process of being domesticated, but that this process is very much still in its infancy. Finally, the top layer, represented by the Gazette's news coverage, shows a French colonial world that is dominated by Britain, virtually invisible in peacetime, and fraught with chaos at every moment. This top layer is especially important since it was the only one visible to the majority of readers, as the Gazette reached an audience perhaps ten times larger than the other periodicals. Therefore, the article largely supports the original hypothesis.