"Technique without genius isn't worth much, but genius without technique isn't worth anything"
Nadia Boulanger
You know, in 1993 Musin called me as an assistant at the Accademia Chigiana. It had just been three years since the beginning of my studies at the Conservatory Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov in former Leningrad. The shock was indescribable: there were fine students from around the world, with years of study in famous schools with high-sounding name teachers that induce fear.
And yet... Yet almost none of them was able to make the two pianists play perfectly together for the initial selection.
That day, Musin’s ability and experience in almost 70 years of teaching were indispensable, he managed to find among the candidates some guys who would have later actually had some good careers: Noseda, Bufalini, Guettler, Setterfield... At that time I would have never been able to distinguish the candidates among those arms moving so sprawlingly, with criteria based in my opinion on difficult to grasp logics. That night at dinner at the Jolly hotel I asked Musin how he selected the students
The answer was simple, and thanks to that I UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS THE VACUUM IN NEED TO BE FILLED.
Wanna know what it is?
That experience in Siena was strenuous for me (I found myself teaching lots of students much more advanced than me in their studies), but it was also crucial in my career choice: I had understood the gaps that they were missing in Western Europe and that needed to be filled...
A SCIENTIFIC APPROACH TO THE TECHNIQUE OF ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTING
I often love to do the following comparison: Isaac Newton deduced the laws governing the universe starting from the observation of phenomena. Similarly Musin as a young man, guided by the light of natural talent, had understood something fundamental:
Conducting an orchestra is not an inexplicable and mysterious art: the orchestra is made up of men, they play what they see, that's all.
In other words, there is a direct relationship that functions between the gesture and what the orchestra plays. Watching students and conductors from all over the world at length, such as Mitropoulos, E.Kleiber, Walter, Busch, Klemperer or Knappertsbush (the so-called “conductors of the past” but which at that time were young and healthy contemporaries), Musin found himself to be in front of a structured language. He had deduced the laws that regulate it, making the orchestral conducting technique an exact science. They begin to learn specific terms to show particular gestures, the basic gestures are analysed and defined: a new and rich terminology appears for the first time in this subject. In short,
SHOWING THE CONVENIENCE OF USING CERTAIN GESTURES RATHER THAN OTHERS
The results are verifiable by the students themselves, and can be achieved with study and constant commitment. The gesture finally relates to the resulting sound. The Musin Method therefore moves the focus from the score to the student and is a system that allows the conductor - through study, assimilation and application of technical principles observed and codified - to express themselves and communicate their own interpretation.
"I have studied conducting with Ennio and it was a transformatively positive experience. I discovered Ennio through the Ilya Musin society and his teaching through his excellent book and DVD. Prior to my studies with Ennio I had completed two degrees in conducting in Australia and studied with 2 other teachers from abroad. I have always been passionately enthusiastic about learning and so to discover, through Ennio, so much that was new was a renewing and exciting experience. It has contributed to a line of thinking for me that has completely changed my approach to conducting technique and my understanding of it. I recommend any enthusiastic musician with an interest in conducting, whether already conducting or not, to seek out the opportunity to study with Ennio. Any opportunity to present Ennio as clinician/teacher would be extremely valuable." - Mark Shiell - Principal Conductor, Zelman Symphony Orchestra, Ballarat Symphony Orchestra, Macquarie Philharmonia
In essence, you know WHAT you want from the orchestra, and I can teach you HOW to get started ...
I have structured a training course for you of five days where I will illustrate to you, the basic principles of the technique codified by Ilya Musin. It will be an eminently practical course: we will start with a piano duo, and going on from that, we will get to work with a full chamber orchestra.
And of course you can check your progress by conducting at the final concert. In short, an opportunity not to be missed (considering that my classes are usually much longer and more expensive). If you want to receive more information, please write an e-mail to
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