(photo: Gavin Wallace)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
21st<\/sup> January 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dave (or David) Arch is a British pianist, conductor, arranger and composer who has enjoyed a prolific career covering a broad spectrum of the music business including albums, films and commercials, live and television work. Though undoubtedly best known for his current role as Musical Director and arranger for BBC Television\u2019s BAFTA winning Strictly Come Dancing<\/em>, in 2016 Dave realised a long held ambition with the release of his own debut album Coming Home<\/em>. A collection of original compositions featuring around 80 of the UK\u2019s finest musicians, the album includes the track \u2018Time To Remember\u2019 with vocals by Tommy Blaize that featured at The Royal British Legion\u2019s Remembrance Day concert in Trafalgar Square.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dave has been active in the recording studio for his\nwhole career. As a keyboardist he has worked on over 200 motion pictures\nincluding 1917<\/em>, The Imitation Game<\/em>, Interstellar<\/em>, The Grand Budapest Hotel<\/em>, Gravity<\/em>, The Danish Girl<\/em> and five of the films from the Harry Potter <\/em>series. <\/em>He\nhas also recorded with\/for a wide range of artists including Joni Mitchell, Diana Ross, Paul McCartney, Tina\nTurner, Elton John and Robbie Williams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dave\u2019s early career saw him playing the piano in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and he plays at Ronnie Scott\u2019s Jazz Club with vocalist Madeline Bell. He is often to be heard with various line-ups and members of his Strictly<\/em> band in jazz clubs and other venues around the London area. Other notable career highlights: Musical Director for ITV for the last nine Royal Variety Performances, including its Hundredth Anniversary at the Albert Hall, and for it\u2019s series Stepping Out<\/em>, All Star Musicals<\/em> and Pop Star to Opera Star<\/em>. He was also Chairperson of the British Jury panel for the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest held in Vienna, Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well! Of all the conductors I\u2019ve spoken to, I think you must be the most versatile. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s very kind of you. I still think I\u2019m just a jobbing musician really. I\u2019m very lucky. It\u2019s a complete accident I ended up doing this job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ve spoken before in interviews about what your role in Strictly Come Dancing <\/em>involves. Do you still just get the one-day rehearsal?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well,\nit used to be just the show day,\nbut I\u2019ve now managed to procure a three-hour rehearsal on the Friday night,\nwhich is with the singers and the rhythm section (a small version of the band).\nThat\u2019s the way it\u2019s worked in the last five or six years. The show got more and\nmore complicated – it was almost impossible to do on the day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Most\nof my work is actually the arranging. The conducting side of it is – in a way –\nthe easy bit! Musically the show has grown and grown; I\u2019ve been doing it\nfourteen years now. We used to have an hour\u2019s rehearsal and then play directly\nwith the dancers for their rehearsals. We did two run throughs and a dress run\nand then we were on live telly. That\u2019s what it used to be like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So you\u2019re spoilt now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nknow yes, exactly! Luxury – a whole rehearsal. So I do that on the Friday night\nand then the brass players and blowers come in on Saturday morning and\nbasically sight-read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You said most of your work is the arranging, is it still the case that you get the dances for the Yep\n\u2013 pretty much. Not even all of them. (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n !! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nthat\u2019s the really hard work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What about the other performances, like Carlos Acosta\u2019s guest appearance when he danced to music from Carmen<\/em>.[1]<\/a><\/strong> Is that still arranged by you for the musicians?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.\nThe only things we don\u2019t play for are the pop acts that come in. For instance, when\nBocelli came in he just sang to a track. We play everything else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you get a lot of arranging to do before the Strictly <\/em>season starts?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, in the last few years what they call the \u2018group dances\u2019 (the ones the professionals do for the openings of the shows) are increasingly planned earlier, a few weeks before the series starts during August. They\u2019re the big scale numbers \u2013 longer pieces of music. Most of that is thought about before the season starts so I can get on with some of it, to a certain extent. But having said that, I found out about Carmen<\/em> a week and a half before. (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is crazy. You went to Guildhall School of Music, didn\u2019t you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So did you study conducting<\/strong> and arranging while you were there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually, I trained as a classical pianist at the Guildhall, a long time ago! They very kindly gave me a fellowship in November last year [2019]. That was a great honour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nstarted joint first study with the violin, but that\u2019s the last time I played\nit. I did a year of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And you thought \u2018that\u2019s enough of that\u2019?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, everyone was far better than me!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah, so I imagine you played in orchestras as well, which would have helped your arranging skills etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nhad done, yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re also a regular at Ronnie Scott\u2019s\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well sometimes, I actually did four days\nthere last week. I don\u2019t really separate the different styles of music. I\u2019ve\nalways grown up with it all and tried to play it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s great. What about copyright? I imagine you never have to worry about any of that, but does that<\/strong> all have to be sorted out very quickly? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well\nthe BBC has vehicles for this. They have a music department that sorts\ncopyrights out, and they have fast tracks to publishers I imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s\nnever been part of my remit. When stuff comes to me it\u2019s already been cleared. There\nare sometimes funny little things that need to be dealt with – like if there\u2019s\na rude word in a song (or what\u2019s perceived as a rude word).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes you have to cut down the songs a lot – the intro is suddenly half the length, or they miss Ugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who decides how that\u2019s done? Is it you or the professional dancer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, there\u2019s also a music producer on the show who has been there for the last few years. It\u2019s decided between all of us. We edit records and then we add little bits to them (like accents that dancers and choreographers want) and I try to make the result work for a live band. The dancers often have requests (they\u2019ll want a certain bit of a song) but it\u2019s also got to work. I usually come in when they vaguely have some form of structure, because as you know you can\u2019t just cut things up willy nilly!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, sure. It\u2019s like watching one of those adverts when they chop up a song you know.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh yeah, you wince! That has happened on Strictly<\/em> but the ultimate decision is with the production. I just give my point of view but that can be overridden occasionally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OK say no more! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There are sometimes sections when you improvise, do dancers ask you to do that? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, sometimes \u2013 but within quite strict parameters. It\u2019s not like you\u2019d do at a concert. It has to be done within a certain time frame otherwise it\u2019s not fair. So there are all of those rules, but we do try to bring a bit of personality to it where we can!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d say so! Are there any genres that are particularly tricky to pull off in the environment Yes, in short. The band I have is basically\nlike a glorified big band with a large rhythm section, so your traditional\nFrank Sinatra song (or something like that) is fairly straightforward. But\nmodern pop music, as you know, has often been created with no real instruments at\nall. It\u2019s then very hard to make that work with a live band. I\u2019ve got little\ntricks: I get the drummer to play electric drums and things like that, but\nsonically it can be very difficult. The other big part of my job (as with all\nconductors) is rehearsing and tailoring the music to make it sound right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to big filmic music and things\nlike Carmen<\/em>, unfortunately the sounds\nhave all got to come out of keyboards when there isn\u2019t a real orchestra. I\u2019m\nlucky enough to work with orchestras a lot (I love that) but in a television\nenvironment the band consists of fifteen musicians, four singers and me. That\u2019s\nbig in television! Usually the hardest things to make work are those that are outside\nof what such a band would usually play. That\u2019s the main problem, but I always\nattempt to make things as authentic as I can, whatever the style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What about the Latin-American music?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Latin stuff can be very difficult because the real deal can have up to five percussionists on it. We\u2019ve got one! I usually end up trying to play something myself \u2013 I\u2019ve got to find ways of making it work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll be looking out for you with your maracas now.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not an uncommon sight! Tambourines and shakers\nand things like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You just mentioned the film music being tricky. Anton and Emma did an Austin Powers Salsa this last series [2019].<\/strong>[2]<\/a> Did you still have to arrange all of that by ear? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh yes, the Quincy Jones \u2013 Soul Bossa Nova<\/em>. Yes, I do all of it by ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is incredible. I wasn\u2019t sure whether you\u2019d be able to contact specific bands\/orchestras and get No, only if it\u2019s a common domain work, unfortunately. I played a bit of Gymnopedie<\/em> one week.[3]<\/a> I\u2019ve got the music at home so I didn\u2019t have to do anything for that one. It was very nerve wracking playing it \u2013 but that\u2019s a different matter!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Actually I was going to ask you about that dance. I\u2019ve spoken a lot to conductors of ballet, and whenever they talk about the pas de deux, they\u2019ve always gone into such detail in the In Strictly<\/em>, almost everything you accompany is a pas de deux. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when you played Gymnopedie<\/em>, how much did you have to consider the choreography for the waltz with rubato etc.? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, with that one I clocked what they were rehearsing to. It was a commercial recording and they had got used to that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah, so you mimic it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, to a certain extent I try to. But I don\u2019t get enough rehearsal time with them to learn what they\u2019re doing, unless the professional dancer comes and asks me about something specific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So they do<\/em> sometimes make requests? Do you mean taking cues from them, that kind of thing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, occasionally \u2013 it\u2019s always the professional dancer because the celebrities don\u2019t always do the same thing twice. (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n (laughs) I\u2019m laughing as if I could do any better. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n With things like jumps and lifts, or going into the splits \u2013 do you take note of how long the dancers Well, \u2018sometimes\u2019 is the answer to that. In the ballet world I think they\u2019re rehearsing with a pianist most of the time, and that rehearsal pianist might be the conductor, or being conducted. They\u2019re very much getting used to the routine together. But the turnaround of this show is so fast, it\u2019s a ridiculous schedule for everybody, so essentially the way it\u2019s done is that we get a recorded track that everyone is happy with and then the dancers practice with that. Then I try and learn the timings. On the whole that\u2019s how it works, but then on show day things can change and they\u2019ll come and request that it\u2019s a bit faster here or that it needs more of a pulse there. It can be hard interpreting dance language into musical language, because at times they\u2019re different things. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quite\noften, instead of writing a pause I will count it in my head and physically\nwrite the timing out e.g. \u2018add an extra 2\/4 bar\u2019\n(or something like that) by way of a pause so I know roughly what they\u2019re\ngetting used to. That\u2019s just how I remember it, it\u2019s one of my little tricks.\nOtherwise if I just write a pause, I come back to it and can\u2019t remember how\nlong it\u2019s meant to be!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, conductors of dance have spoken to me about manufactured ritardandos. Stravinsky did it,[4]<\/strong><\/a> Is the Argentine Tango a difficult one to do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be. For instance, Piazolla is sometimes very technically difficult, so I quite often need to get in specialist players for that (a violin or bandoneon, depending on what the track is). Those can be very tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tempi are always the thorny issue with dance. Do you ever feel like the wrong tempo is ruining the Yes,\nyes that has happened (laughs). Once\nin a while they\u2019re a bit uncomfortable. As it\u2019s Saturday night entertainment,\nsometimes a song is picked for its words (for instance, they are appropriate to\na celebrity) or maybe it\u2019s a popular song. It\u2019s not really a tango or a Paso or\nwhatever, and we have to go through this process of trying to fit a round peg\nin to a square hole. Tempo is often an issue with things like that. We do our\nbest but\u2026!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it usually the<\/strong> dancers that get priority?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, they\u2019ve got to dance to it so ultimately that\u2019s the most important thing \u2013 if they\u2019re doing a Pasodoble it\u2019s got to be within a certain tempo range. What\u2019s being picked isn\u2019t always comfortable in that range, but that\u2019s one of those things. On the whole we get away with it, I hope!<\/p>\n\n\n\n So I suppose you can\u2019t ever really say \u2018no, this will not work\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I\u2019ll say that in advance in the week if I see something that\u2019s down for an inappropriate dance style. When you\u2019re doing shows that are rolling weekly you just have to jump on any problems as soon as possible, everybody does that. I\u2019ll listen to everything as soon as I can and am listening for things that could present potential problems \u2013 whether that means a different line-up, I need different instruments or whether there\u2019s an issue with tempos. I can’t really refuse, but I can put up robust reasons why. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Orchestral\/opera conductors usually have assistants helping them out in various ways. Do you have anyone like that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, I don\u2019t. But I work in tandem with the music producer for the show. Also there\u2019s a great sound team and on show days I\u2019m very involved with them. It\u2019s not really part of my job but because I want the music to sound as good as possible it\u2019s become it, every break I go and listen to the rehearsal recordings. The mixing desk is in a full on studio and has computer snap shots so you can recall a certain song. I\u2019m able to listen to the rehearsal, and we mix that and although it\u2019s being played live the settings on the mixing desk can be roughly right. I do all that myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, you\u2019re clever.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, I\u2019m not!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s so varied, all the skills you have. I think you\u2019d be pretty hard to replace.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, that\u2019s for others to say but I care about it, I suppose. Everything I do, I really care about \u2013 for it to sound as good as it possibly can within the parameters we have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it true you handwrite everything in pencil?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I mean, actually\u2026 what?!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nwrite scores, I have a copyist\nthat then puts it into Sibelius. I use Sibelius sometimes but I\u2019m slower on that\nthan I am with a pencil. So ultimately that\u2019s all I care about when I\u2019ve got such\na vast amount to do. But with other things I write I do use Sibelius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For single line instruments such as trumpet\nparts it\u2019s fine, but for rhythm parts, drum parts, guitar chords and things\nlike that I can\u2019t work on the computer as fast as I can with a pencil. I\u2019m sure\nthere are people that can fly on it, but when doing Strictly<\/em> I just scan my pencil scores and send them to a copyist. Then\nhe brings in all the parts on the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah right. So what\u2019s your role on the tour?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\nset it up, basically. I do all\nthe arranging for it and I then rehearse the band. The band for this is a bit\nsmaller than the TV show so sometimes I have to prelay some music, make click\ntracks and run extra missing parts – things like that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So there are<\/em> live musicians, but less of them. You scale it all down. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nit\u2019s a ten-piece band. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You don\u2019t go on tour with them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No.\nI was up in Birmingham last week\n\u2013 I go to the first couple of days of the production rehearsals up there and\nmostly tweak the sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So who does your<\/em> job then? You\u2019re usually at the piano. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the main Strictly<\/em> band there are two pianists, and I play quite often so then\nthere\u2019s three. On the tour there\u2019s two, and a guitar, bass, drums, percussion\nand four brass, hence having to prelay some bits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ah right, I see how that could work.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yeah, it works until they want the large-scale music that I struggled to make even work with the main band. (laughs)<\/p>\n\n\n\n They don\u2019t ask for much from you, do they?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes\n– you know the six French horns in the corner that I could really be doing with\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some\nof that comes out of keyboards\nand synthesisers and some of it I just have to figure out ways around. The BBC\nis creatively involved with the tour, so the wardrobe, me, the producers – we\nall sort of set it up, and then it\u2019s all run by an independent company. Phil\nMcIntyre run the tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you select the musicians yourself? Some have been there from the start, haven\u2019t they?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, Tommy Blaize (one of the singers) has, but yes I do select them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I imagine you need<\/strong> very versatile musicians who can work without much rehearsal.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, in a nutshell! And put up with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have many Guildhall buddies in there?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not really in this case. I was also in the\nNYJO [National Youth Jazz Orchestra] whilst I was at Guildhall so a lot of\nsession players (especially the brass players) have all come through that. The\nrest of the band are just people I\u2019ve known over the years who are versatile\nand fantastic players. Most of the people I work with are people I\u2019ve known for\na long time, but not always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regarding the tempi: obviously not only do you have to agree the right tempo (as we mentioned before) but often there are tempo changes within the songs – especially when you\u2019re doing medleys.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They can be quite choppy \u2013 I noticed that when you performed \u2018Shout\u2019 for Kelvin and Oti\u2019s dance.[5]<\/strong><\/a> Yes, it can do. I\u2019ve always got a metronome there for reference and I\u2019ve previously clocked what the tempo needs to be, but when you\u2019ve rehearsed it a couple of times [it\u2019s usually fine]. With that particular tune (I remember that because we performed it recently and it\u2019s also on the tour) there are three tempos. It starts at normal speed, then goes into a slower bluesy section, and then fast at the end. The first two tempos are fairly natural. My metronome\u2019s got flashing lights so once I\u2019ve got it in my head that\u2019s alright. The last tempo was quite hard because it was required to be faster than it should have been for dance reasons. Therefore, it\u2019s a little unnatural. Oh well, hopefully we got near it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dancers talk about muscle memory a lot. I also spoke to soprano Danielle de Niese about that once and what she said stuck in my mind. \u2018It seemed to be held in everyone\u2019s muscle memory. It\u2019s like hearing a pop song on the radio \u2013 you are unlikely to remember it at a different speed\u2019.[6]<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, music usually has a natural pace, it\u2019s when it\u2019s outside that natural pace that it becomes hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I imagine if it doesn\u2019t feel right there\u2019s a real danger of speeding up or slowing down.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well,\nthat\u2019s when great musicians, especially rhythm players (drummers and\npercussionists) are worth their weight in gold. That\u2019s what they\u2019re all good\nat. You\u2019ll set the tempo with them and they\u2019ll hold it there, even when it\u2019s\nnot that comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\nthe studio with films and albums it\u2019s very commonplace to play to a click or a\npre-laid track. The live arena is when it\u2019s sometimes harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some orchestras have a click track in the films-with-orchestra performances\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nvery much so as they need to\nplay in sync with the picture. Playing together is all a question of musicians\nlistening to each other. If a drummer is setting a tempo, especially in dance\nmusic of any kind, then that is what everybody\u2019s got to lock to. Really!<\/p>\n\n\n\n When I studied the Rite of Spring<\/em>, I came across an article with a table comparing performance tempi of the piece by different conductors (Fink 1999:356). The ones that were closest to Stravinsky\u2019s metronome markings were those that conducted dance \u2013 so I can imagine that skill with tempo applies to you too. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have much to do with the other Music Directors from Dancing with the Stars<\/em>, in the US or elsewhere? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, I don\u2019t have anything to do with Ray Chew [Music Director of the U.S. show], or Harold Wheeler before that, although I think we might have exchanged a score or two in the past. Somebody who had been on the US show came over and did a special dance performance once, but that\u2019s all the contact I\u2019ve had.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you don\u2019t phone each other up and compare notes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n No. The shows are a completely separate\nthing. Other productions sometimes come and watch us because it\u2019s franchised\nall over the world and the BBC version is the original. I\u2019ve met a couple of\npeople that come and watch the show and they\u2019ve asked me questions (probably because\nof shows they were about to set up). In the American show I don\u2019t think the\nband\u2019s very big anymore, I think it was scaled down when the new chap started.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, conducting can be quite a lonely profession.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes,\nand also that business of learning a whole score is very different. That takes\na lot of work, doing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Opera conductors that I\u2019ve spoken to will often spend three years learning a score; just slowly That\u2019s\namazing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps you\u2019d get bored of the piece after all that time!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But\nyou get your reward in front of\nthe orchestra. I mean, whatever the music is that\u2019s such a buzz. To have a band\nor an orchestra playing music back to you – that\u2019s a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, that must be great feeling for you to hear the band play something back that you\u2019ve arranged. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m usually relieved it works!<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2026 and I suppose a bit nerve-wracking when there are just a few million people watching.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It certainly is! There was talk of doing a\nred button for direct music feed because obviously all the audience are\nclapping along with us in all sorts of places – but that didn\u2019t happen. I think\nit was a cost thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s the other great distraction sometimes.\nYou\u2019ve got to completely ignore an audience clapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, of course! They\u2019re all whooping and wooing as well.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, and clapping roughly in the right places\nand sometimes not. And then of course when you\u2019ve got to change tempo the\naudience carry on clapping in the old tempo for a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, that\u2019s difficult.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\ncan be, yes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, if you were mentoring a student that was interested in your kind of work, what skills\/practice Well, I think diversity more than anything else – you have to be involved with as much of a variety of music as possible. You have to work in some really bad situations to gain experience \u2013 you can\u2019t just go in at the top end. But as I said earlier, my whole attitude to music is that whatever the style it\u2019s all <\/em>valid music. I encounter a lot of musicians, whatever the style, that aren\u2019t open to other styles. I don\u2019t dismiss anything \u2013 I might not like a bit of music but by arranging it I\u2019ll try to get inside it and understand it. I might not always enjoy it as much as something that I like more but I\u2019m not closed to it. So I think that\u2019s probably the advice I\u2019d give.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes. I feel the same about variety, and I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve discovered lots of songs and music via Strictly<\/em> that you wouldn\u2019t have otherwise come across.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh\nvery much so, and learned a lot from listening to things. That\u2019s the other skill\n\u2013 listening to everything that\u2019s around you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Well this has been fantastic, thanks so much for fitting me in! <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s\nbeen interesting! Nice talking to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Fink,\nR. \u2018\u2018The Rite of Spring\u2019 and the Forging of a Modernist Performing Style\u2019 Journal of <\/em> the American\nMusicological Society, <\/em>(Summer 1999) 52 (2),\n299-362 [1]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eryYeVDvlNs<\/p>\n\n\n\n [2]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ypf2p0KRwgE<\/p>\n\n\n\n [3]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Q3Uavzt6qVo<\/p>\n\n\n\n [4]<\/a> See the end of the Apotheose in Apollo.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n [5]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XFf6eBR9kc0<\/p>\n\n\n\n [6]<\/a> Danielle de Niese on her working relationship with conductors Issue 1 July 2017. Read the full interview here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" (photo: Gavin Wallace) 21st January 2020 Dave (or David) Arch is a British pianist, conductor, arranger and composer who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-public","pmpro-has-access","clearfix"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Dave-Arch-3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8YX8Q-a6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2073,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/2073"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.notesfromthepodium.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
next weekend on the Sunday?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
out a couple of lines from the verse and then it goes straight into the final chorus\u2026 etc.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
you\u2019re working in and with the band you\u2019ve got?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
the parts from them. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
rehearsal room. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
are taking?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
he would just write out longer notes rather than put in rall<\/em>. or rit<\/em>. so it was exactly how he wanted it. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
musical performance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can it take quite a long time to get on top of that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
assimilating it over time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
would you really encourage?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n