Beyond the Baton
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Seasoned conductor Diane Wittry draws a comprehensive roadmap to a successful career in Beyond the Baton. With first-hand understanding of how the role of the conductor has changed across the years, she expertly examines the new set of duties--both on and off of the podium--that now fall upon the shoulders of the music director. From getting a job to fundraising and educational outreach, Wittry's comprehensive tips and strategies guide students and professional conductors alike through the leadership and organizational skills necessary for success. Numerous real-life examples illustrate vital skills for artistic leadership such as programming subscription, pops, and educational concerts; understanding the budget and the music director's role in funding the artistic vision; and presenting speeches, and radio and televised interviews. In informative conversations with the author, successful conductors Leonard Slatkin, Robert Spano, and JoAnn Falletta offer tips from personal experience on how music directors can work successfully with orchestras, and what their roles are with the board and the community.
The Cambridge Companion to Conducting
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In this wide-ranging inside view of the history and practice of conducting, analysis and advice comes directly from working conductors, including Sir Charles Mackerras on opera, Bramwell Tovey on being an Artistic Director, Martyn Brabbins on modern music, Leon Botstein on programming and Vance George on choral conducting, and from those who work closely with conductors: a leading violinist describes working as a soloist with Stokowski, Ormandy and Barbirolli, while Solti and Abbado's studio producer explains orchestral recording, and one of the world's most powerful managers tells all. The book includes advice on how to conduct different types of groups (choral, opera, symphony, early music) and provides a substantial history of conducting as a study of national traditions. It is an unusually honest book about a secretive industry and managers, artistic directors, soloists, players and conductors openly discuss their different perspectives for the first time.
The choir and how to direct it : a handbook for choral conductors
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Conducting Beethoven Volumes 1&2
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It might be thought presumptuous to detail every thought, beat, and gesture in conducting the standard repertoire, for the art of interpretation must always, by its very nature, be a personal one. But from his lifelong experience in conducting the Beethoven symphonies Norman Del Mar is able to lead us in a discussion of them with passion and great insight. This is an essential guide for students of these great works and a starting-point for young conductors. Del Mar offers an analysis of the music's structure, pointing out key events in the score and offering advice on how to achieve the desired effect. He also compares variant readings in the different editions. But his book further traces the development of Beethoven's style and that of the symphony over the twenty-four years of their composition, from the inspired yet simple First, so evocative of Haydn and Mozart, to the supreme peak of the `Choral', one of the greatest masterpieces of the symphonic form. Del Mar is thus able to speak to all devotees of Beethoven's symphonic output, and enhance our appreciation of these works.
Conducting Brahms
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After two volumes of reflections on conducting the orchestral music of Beethoven, Normal Del Mar now turns to the music of Brahms. His own interpretations, over a career of half a century, have been hailed as unusually sincere and thoughtful. As before, Del Mar's insights will be of great interest to practicing musicians and lovers of these great works.
Conducting Choirs, Volume 1 to 3
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v. 1. The promising conductor : a practical guide for beginning choral conductors -- v. 2. Music for classroom use : a comprehensive collection of musical examples including performance CD for practice and study -- v. 3. The practicing conductor : an exploration of advanced topics relevant to working choral conductors.
Conducting and Rehearsing the Instrumental Music Ensemble
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Conducting and Rehearsing the Instrumental Music Ensemble is the most comprehensive guide on the rehearsalprocess for conducting instrumental music ensembles. Ideal for the advanced instrumental music conductor seeking to look beyond basic conducting technique, this work breaks the multidimensional activity of working with an ensemble, orchestra, or band into its constituent components. Advanced students of conducting will find within the full range of conducting activities: * Chapters on the infrastructure of the rehearsal, the rehearsal environment, 10 rehearsal essentials, score study, music imagery, inner singing, and rehearsal procedures (with an emphasis on an integrated approach to rehearsing) * The technical priorities of intonation and tuning, rhythm patterns, ensemble sonority (tone, balance, blend, color and texture), and articulation * The musical priorities of tempo and ensemble precision, phrasing and the musical line, style and interpretation, dynamics and musical expression * Emphasizing the expectations of 21st-century conductors, the challenges of conducting and rehearsing contemporary music, preparing conductor profiles and self-evaluations, and moving from the rehearsal process to concert performance Conducting and Rehearsing the Instrumental Music Ensemble is a great resource for teachers and students of conducting, as well as current conductors wishing to further hone their skills.
Conducting women's choirs : strategies for success
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Conducting Women's Choirs: Strategies for Success is a pioneering yet practical book and DVD devoted to all aspects of the women's choir--a groundbreaking contribution and a true collaborative effort from top professionals in the field. For the first time in a book, choral leaders bring together historical, philosophical, psychological, sociological, pedagogical, and real-world considerations to the women's choir--information missing from most choral methods and conducting texts. Areas of focus include: working with beginning, high school, collegiate, and community women's choirs; improving the sound of women's choirs; suggested repertoire for women's choirs; composing for women's choirs; building community within the ensemble; warm-ups and rehearsal strategies; building excellence in women's choirs. Sections also focus on mentoring, auditions, seating arrangements, historical women's repertoire, healthy vocal development, gender issues, history, status of the women's choir, and much more. This book features research, practical insights, and round-table discussions. The included DVD demonstrates choral techniques and teaching ideas with two women's choirs: Aurora, from Luther College, conducted by Sandra Peter; and The University of Kentucky Women's Choir, conducted by Lori Hetzel [Publisher description].
Evoking Sound
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Evoking Sound set new standards for its vision of the choral conductor's role when it was published in 1998. Now significantly revised and expanded, James Jordan's groundbreaking book incorporates more than ten years of new conducting insights, pedagogy, and philosophy to create a resource that is not only informative but transformative.
A history of orchestral conducting : in theory and practice
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The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy
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As the landscape of choral education changes - disrupted by Glee, YouTube, and increasingly cheap audio production software - teachers of choral conducting need current research in the field that charts scholarly paths through contemporary debates and sets an agenda for new critical thought and practice. Where, in the digitizing world, is the field of choral pedagogy moving? Editor Frank Abrahams and Paul D. Head, both experienced choral conductors and teachers, offer here a comprehensive handbook of newly-commissioned chapters that provide key scholarly-critical perspectives on teaching and learning in the field of choral music, written by academic scholars and researchers in tandem with active choral conductors.As chapters in this book demonstrate, choral pedagogy encompasses everything from conductors' gestures to the administrative management of the choir. The contributors to The Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy address the full range of issues in contemporary choral pedagogy, from repertoire to voice science to the social and political aspects of choral singing. They also cover the construction of a choral singer's personal identity, the gendering of choral ensembles, social justice in choral education, and the role of the choral art in society more generally. Included scholarship focuses on both the United States and international perspectives in five sections that address traditional paradigms of the field and challenges to them; critical case studies on teaching and conducting specific populations (such as international, school, or barbershop choirs); the pedagogical functions of repertoire; teaching as a way to construct identity; and new scholarly methodologies in pedagogy and the voice.
Performing Twentieth-Century Music
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Even the most accomplished musicians are often defeated by the demands of the modern repertory. Yet until now, no practical manual has addressed the performance problems specific to twentieth-century music. This concise, straightforward handbook by the renowned conductor and instrumentalist Arthur Weisberg will guide performers and conductors in negotiating the diverse paths taken by composers in this century. Most of the difficulties particular to modern music center around rhythm and counting. Performers must perfect the accurate, fluent reading of complex rhythms. Conductors must not only understand the rhythmic problems they encounter but also be able to teach the players how to perform them. Composers themselves need to know how best to notate their rhythmic ideas. Bearing these demands in mind, Weisberg clearly explains the new rhythmic complexities and provides exercises for mastering them. Weisberg demonstrates techniques--including "educated faking" and "the common sense rule"--for performing irregular meters, complex polyrhythms (such as seven against four), and metric modulations. He also discusses baton technique, score preparation, electronic aids for synchronized playing, and the tension between flow and accuracy. Weisberg's examples are drawn chiefly from works by Hindemith, Stravinsky, Webern, Ives, Carter, and Boulez, but he also uses examples from Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms to show how devices generally regarded as modern are in fact rooted in earlier practices.
Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor
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Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor: A Practical Guide addresses the study and performance of Renaissance music in a way that is understandable to the musician at any level. It describes how to find a good edition, mark scores, rehearse, and conduct this type of music. It explains complex ideas from proportion to linear analysis and supplies step-by-step instructions on presenting "madrigal dinners"--ideal vehicles for the presentation of Renaissance music. This guide contains traditional toasts, stage directions, lists of appropriate music, and even instruction on selected Renaissance dances. Summer also includes a large number of musical scores to aid in his explanations on marking scores, conducting, and analyzing polyphonic music. Renaissance Music for the Choral Conductor is the ideal textbook for choral literature and choral conducting classes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It can serve as a reference for anyone who wishes to program and explore music from this period in greater depth, including church musicians and conductors of professional ensembles. The book concludes with a bibliography, glossary, and selected discography.
Wisdom, Wit, and Will
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Art and science in the choral rehearsal
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In recent decades, cognitive neuroscience research has increased our understanding of how the brain learns, retains, and recalls information. At the same time, social psychology researchers have developed insights into group dynamics, exploring what motivates individuals in a group to give their full effort, or conversely, what might instead inspire them to become freeloaders. This book explores the idea that choral conductors who better understand how the brain learns, and how individuals within groups function, can lead more efficient, productive, and enjoyable rehearsals. Armed with this knowledge, conductors can create rehearsal techniques which take advantage of certain fundamental brain and social psychology principles. Through such approaches, singers will become increasingly engaged physically and mentally in the rehearsal process.
Choral Pedagogy, Third Edition
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The ideal text for voice teachers, choral conductors, church musicians, and professional and amateur singers who wish to develop strategies for lifelong singing.
Choral Repertoire
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Online.The second edition of Choral Repertoire is a comprehensive reference book about choral music in Western culture from Gregorian chant to compositions of the early twenty-first century, now expanded to include dozens of new composers with the aim of further expanding and diversifying the western choral repertoire
A Handbook of Diction for Singers
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Online. Now in its third edition, A Handbook of Diction for Singers is a complete guide to achieving professional levels of diction in Italian, German, and French. Combining traditional approaches in the teaching of diction with new material not readily available elsewhere, author David Adams presents the sounds of each language in logical order, along with essential information on matters such as diacritical marks, syllabification, word stress, and effective use of the variety of foreign-language dictionaries. A Handbook of Diction for Singers places particular emphasis on the characteristics of vowel length, the sequencing of sounds between words, as well as the differences between spoken and sung sounds in all three languages, all while taking care to clarify concepts typically difficult for English-speaking singers. This revised third edition offers significantly expanded coverage of each language as well as a new chapter that introduces readers to the specific sounds unique to those languages. The result is a concise yet thorough treatment of the three major languages of the classical vocal repertory, and an invaluable reference for vocalists and voice teachers.
The Oxford handbook of choral pedagogy
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This text explores varied perspectives on teaching, learning, and performing choral music. Authors are academic scholars and researchers as well as active choral conductors. Topics include music programming and the selection of repertoire; the exploration of singer and conductor identity; choral traditions in North America, Western Europe, South America, and Africa; and the challenges conductors meet as they work with varied populations of singers. Chapters consider children's choirs, world music choirs, adult community choirs, gospel choirs, jazz choirs, professional choruses, collegiate glee clubs, and choirs that meet the needs of marginalized singers.
A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting
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Rooted in the experience of a professional choral conductor, this book provides a guide to practical issues facing conductors of choral ensembles at all levels, from youth choruses to university ensembles, church and community choirs, and professional vocal groups. Paired with the discussion of practical challenges is a discussion of over fifty key works from the choral literature, with performance suggestions to aid the choral conductor in directing each piece. Dealing with often-overlooked yet vital considerations such as how to work with composers, recording, concert halls, and choral tours, A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting offers a valuable resource for both emerging choral conductors and students of choral conducting at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Sound Advice
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Always a vital part of community cultural life, children's choirs can be small amateur clubs or sophisticated arts organizations on a par with adult professional choirs and orchestras. Whatever a choir's size and ambitions, its director faces a formidable challenge. Jean Ashworth Bartle, director of the award-winning Toronto Children's Chorus, has collected her experience and wisdom in Sound Advice. In a clear and direct style, the book offers tips on basics such as conducting fun, effective rehearsals and advanced projects including recording and touring. Stressing that the choir director's fundamental task is to develop musicianship through singing, Bartle suggests skill-building exercises and interactive rehearsal techniques. The book's appendixes form a sourcebook of warm-ups, repertoire, and suggested programmes, providing several seasons' worth of inspiration. For teachers just starting out with their choirs, students of the child voice and teaching methods, and experienced choir directors seeking to take their students one step further, Sound Advice will benefit all choir directors who want their choirs to reach a higher level of artistry, musicianship and skill.
