Baton down the hatches

Oct 09 2007
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Craig McNutt

Known for his distinctive style and thoughtful musicianship, timpanist/percussionist Craig McNutt has become a vital performer in the realm of percussion performance. His performance have taken him to several of the world’s great concert halls, including Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall, and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the Oper Frankfurt. In advancing the visibility of classical music, he has also performed at several non-traditional venues such as France’s Eiffel Tower, the twenty five hundred year old Delphi Theater in Greece, New York’s World Financial Center, and Boston’s Fenway Park.

Praised by critics for his “colorful percussion sounds” (Boston Globe) and “crisp mallet work” (Providence Journal), Craig McNutt has been featured as a soloist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic (Russell Peck’s Harmonic Rhythm) and Collage New Music (Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto). He has collaborated with some of the most celebrated composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Elliott Carter, Lukas Foss, John Cage, Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, George Rochberg, Charles Fussell, John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, and Lee Hyla, and performed under the direction of many noted conductors, including James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Roger Norrington, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Robert Spano, Oliver Knussen, Reinbert de Leeuw, and John Williams.

As a performer, Mr. McNutt has worked with virtually all of Boston’s major musical groups, including the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Cantata Singers, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. He is Principal Timpanist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and performs regularly as Principal Timpanist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Emmanuel Music, and Opera Boston. In the contemporary music genre, Craig is a featured percussionist for Collage New Music and ALEA III, and has performed with Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex. Equally at home in the field of historical performance, he regularly performs on baroque timpani with the period instrument groups Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Cecilia.

Mr. McNutt can be heard on over forty commercially released recordings, many of them on the ground-breaking and critically acclaimed BMOP/sound label. Two of these recordings – Charles Fussell’s Wilde and Derek Bermel’s Voices – were nominated for a Grammy award by the Recording Industry Association of America. His discography features many other celebrated record labels, including Telarc, Bridge, ECM New Series, Koch Classics, Chandos, Albany, and Naxos.

Mr. McNutt has participated in several important performances at music festivals dedicated to the advancement of modern music, such as the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music, the MATA Festival, the Composer Portraits Series at Miller Theatre, Pittsburgh’s New Music on the Edge, and California State University’s Festival of New American Music. In 2000, Mr. McNutt was invited to return to the Festival of Contemporary Music at the Tanglewood Music Center for a performance of Pierre Boulez’s Sur Incises, a performance hailed by The Boston Globe as “simply beyond praise.”

A Massachusetts native, Mr. McNutt holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music and Yale University, and has completed additional studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is a two time alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, and has also spent summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival, and as a fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. Currently Mr. McNutt teaches at The New England Conservatory Preparatory School , The Music School of The Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Wellesley College. He has also served on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music and the University of Rhode Island.

A strong advocate for his instrument, Mr. McNutt has immersed himself in many other aspects of percussion, including stick wrapping, timpani maintenance, and tucking calf skin drumheads, and has mentored many on these subjects . Having sewn his own timpani mallets for over 15 years, Mr. McNutt has in turn presented master classes on timpani mallet wrapping at The Boston Conservatory and at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

For more information and upcoming events, please visit www.craigmcnutt.com

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Balance (noun) –

1. a state of equilibrium or equipoise; equal distribution of weight, amount, etc.

When I was deciding on a theme for my contribution to this discussion, I kept returning to the notion that we have to balance many different facets of our musical careers (and no I am not talking about issues of volume, although I am sure that will come up later). Whether it’s working with a stand partner or negotiating a contract, we have to interact with others while maintaining our own sense of self. So with that in mind, here are some (I hope) balanceable facets of the conductor/orchestra realm: (Note I have avoided specific percussion-type stuff for future posts – I encourage drummers everywhere to chime in with their own concerns):

1. Give us a balanced diet of who you are and what your personality is. If we don’t see the real you conducting, you won’t get much of a return on your performance. If you are a meticulous type, by all means go over those details during rehearsal. The review likely will note your performance as “skillfully crafted.” If you’re funny, go ahead and give us a joke or two, or the occasional yarn. Don’t beat it into the ground – then it becomes a shtick, and you probably would prefer not to be known on the circuit as “the comedian.” And most of all, please don’t try to be, or conduct like, someone else. Bad things can happen…

2. Find the balance between spontaneity and practiced. If you conduct with a complete lack of control, when you’re simply trying to be spontaneous, you’re going to get one messy show. Spontaneity works best when happening as a reaction to the moment. Don’t plan to be spontaneous on Saturday from 8 to 10 PM. On the opposite end, please don’t conduct the Beethoven 5 you listened to on your iPod the morning before rehearsal. If you’re conducting the Northwest Southeastern Podunk Philharmonic, conduct them, not the original Szell recording. Otherwise, bad things can happen…

3. During rehearsals, balance the parts that are rehearsal, and those parts that are “practice performance.” Go ahead and let the musicians try new ideas, especially in familiar repertoire. Some of them may work; some may fail miserably, but let them try. The last thing you as a conductor want is an orchestra that is solely concerned with playing absolutely correctly every single time. Then, at some point, come to the consensus about the performance with the orchestra. If you don’t, I’m not sure bad things will happen, but they might…

4. Know what your orchestra’s manpower is for staffing at the rehearsal. If you wish to move the brass onto risers, the percussion to the other side, and the harp to the front, be sure that this particular orchestra has the man(woman)power to do that efficiently, without epic disruptions to the rehearsal. If the orchestra has two very nice but volunteer stage crew folks, your favorite setup may not happen for that rehearsal. No bad things, just minor nuisances…

5. Time management – no balance reference necessary. Please rehearse at a natural pace. While we all might enjoy the extra leisurely paced rehearsal, in most cases (depending on the repertoire and the orchestra) that simply can’t occur, and still end up with a top notch performance. On the other hand, can we avoid the cramming, like a high school student at the SATs? It gives you some of the worst rehearsals you could ever hope for…or not hope for. And, for those of us who count many bars rest (OK I lied about percussion stuff), please give us time to find where you’re starting when you give us a bar number. It takes a bit of math to get to where you are when the starting point is in the middle of 159 bars of rest. And yes, bad things can happen…at least in terms of how the rehearsal sounds.

Disclaimer – The hardest part of this discussion is that the answers will vary widely based on both the orchestra and conductor. If it doesn’t apply to you or your orchestra, consider it a success…good things might happen…

About the author

Craig McNutt

Known for his distinctive style and thoughtful musicianship, timpanist/percussionist Craig McNutt has become a vital performer in the realm of percussion performance. His performance have taken him to several of the world’s great concert halls, including Boston’s Symphony Hall and Jordan Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall, and Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, and the Oper Frankfurt. In advancing the visibility of classical music, he has also performed at several non-traditional venues such as France’s Eiffel Tower, the twenty five hundred year old Delphi Theater in Greece, New York’s World Financial Center, and Boston’s Fenway Park.

Praised by critics for his “colorful percussion sounds” (Boston Globe) and “crisp mallet work” (Providence Journal), Craig McNutt has been featured as a soloist with the Rhode Island Philharmonic (Russell Peck’s Harmonic Rhythm) and Collage New Music (Steven Mackey’s Micro-Concerto). He has collaborated with some of the most celebrated composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Elliott Carter, Lukas Foss, John Cage, Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, George Rochberg, Charles Fussell, John Harbison, Michael Gandolfi, and Lee Hyla, and performed under the direction of many noted conductors, including James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Roger Norrington, Christoph von Dohnányi, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Robert Spano, Oliver Knussen, Reinbert de Leeuw, and John Williams.

As a performer, Mr. McNutt has worked with virtually all of Boston’s major musical groups, including the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, Boston Ballet, Boston Lyric Opera, Cantata Singers, A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra. He is Principal Timpanist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and performs regularly as Principal Timpanist with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Emmanuel Music, and Opera Boston. In the contemporary music genre, Craig is a featured percussionist for Collage New Music and ALEA III, and has performed with Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex. Equally at home in the field of historical performance, he regularly performs on baroque timpani with the period instrument groups Boston Baroque, Handel and Haydn Society, and Boston Cecilia.

Mr. McNutt can be heard on over forty commercially released recordings, many of them on the ground-breaking and critically acclaimed BMOP/sound label. Two of these recordings – Charles Fussell’s Wilde and Derek Bermel’s Voices – were nominated for a Grammy award by the Recording Industry Association of America. His discography features many other celebrated record labels, including Telarc, Bridge, ECM New Series, Koch Classics, Chandos, Albany, and Naxos.

Mr. McNutt has participated in several important performances at music festivals dedicated to the advancement of modern music, such as the Ditson Festival of Contemporary Music, the MATA Festival, the Composer Portraits Series at Miller Theatre, Pittsburgh’s New Music on the Edge, and California State University’s Festival of New American Music. In 2000, Mr. McNutt was invited to return to the Festival of Contemporary Music at the Tanglewood Music Center for a performance of Pierre Boulez’s Sur Incises, a performance hailed by The Boston Globe as “simply beyond praise.”

A Massachusetts native, Mr. McNutt holds degrees from the Hartt School of Music and Yale University, and has completed additional studies at the New England Conservatory of Music. He is a two time alumnus of the Tanglewood Music Center, and has also spent summers studying at the Aspen Music Festival, and as a fellow of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute. Currently Mr. McNutt teaches at The New England Conservatory Preparatory School , The Music School of The Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Wellesley College. He has also served on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music and the University of Rhode Island.

A strong advocate for his instrument, Mr. McNutt has immersed himself in many other aspects of percussion, including stick wrapping, timpani maintenance, and tucking calf skin drumheads, and has mentored many on these subjects . Having sewn his own timpani mallets for over 15 years, Mr. McNutt has in turn presented master classes on timpani mallet wrapping at The Boston Conservatory and at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School.

For more information and upcoming events, please visit www.craigmcnutt.com

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