The program starts with Strauss's Don Juan. The lights dim, the audience hushes in anticipation, the video projects the image of the conductor as he gives the downbeat, the players respond by.... Wait a minute! Video? Is this a nightmare coming to pass? Or is it the high-tech concert of the future? Actually, it is neither, although it is certainly "high-tech." It is the brainchild of legendary West Coast hornist James Decker called International Video Audition Service Inc. (IVASI).
IVASI was developed at USC and was originally intended to make the first rounds of orchestral auditions fairer and more affordable. Players were to make a tape in a local television studio and send it rather than travel to an audition site. The real value of the project soon became apparent -- it is the ultimate orchestral repertoire education tool.
Here's how IVASI works: A conductor is videotaped conducting to a CD. The video is replayed on a large television facing musicians who watch a score and the screen, listen through speakers and sound monitors, and play along. If they are in tune and rhythmically accurate, they won't hear their voices on the recording, as their own playing covers it. They hear the missing instruments, all those no one in the room is playing. One player or any number of players can take part in a session.
This system allows players to focus on any aspect of the excerpts, in context, with opportunity for learning together as a section, and matching intonation with the video. More repertoire can be covered than with most school orchestras, and in a more controlled environment.
I experienced IVASI at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival in Maine last summer, where Decker had us work with a live conductor, then darken the room, turn on the video and our stand lights, and off we went -- Mahler, Strauss, Brahms, Stravinsky -- sometimes several pieces in a sitting. There are now over 50 titles available.
All the students at Bowdoin agreed that their experience with IVASI was a most valuable and rewarding one, and wished that all their schools had the system. It's now being used at six universities, and a recent demo at the University of Arizona has led to discussion of possible equipment purchases -- the faculty as well as students are enthusiastic, and we've got our fingers crossed!
Brian was a doctoral student with Keith Johnson at the University of Arizona at Tucson when he wrote this review. He also studied with David Jolley and Mike Hatfield. He is now teaching in Terra Haute, Indiana. Jim Decker is a studio and concert performer and professor at USC and CalState Long Beach. In addition to IVASI, he has produced an interactive video book on mastering the horn.