A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting.
- 1st ed.
- 1 online resource (247 pages)
Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Part 1 Leadership, Logistics, and Musical Insights -- 1 Responsibilities and Opportunities -- Responsibilities -- Opportunities -- 2 Recruiting, Auditioning, and Assessing -- Recruiting -- Auditioning -- Assessing -- 3 Choosing and Learning Repertoire -- How to Find and Acquire Music -- Choosing Stylistically Appropriate Music for Your Choir -- Creating a Successful Concert Program -- Learning the Score -- 4 Common Conductor Problems and How to Avoid or Fix Them -- Failing to Hear Mistakes -- Expectations -- Giving Pitches Incorrectly -- Teaching Notes Ineffectively -- Not Cuing Enough -- Not Having Adequate Piano Skills -- 5 Acquiring a Solid Conducting Technique With No Wasted Motion -- Specific Wasted Motions -- Mirror Conducting -- Kinesthetics -- 6 Logistics: Arranging Your Singers and Placing Your Choir -- Achieving Balance -- Arranging the Singers -- Mixed Formation -- Special Arrangements -- 7 Running Rehearsals -- Time of Day -- Rehearsal Length -- Running Rehearsals From the Piano -- The Dress Rehearsal -- 8 Achieving a Better Choral Sound -- Tone Quality and Dynamics -- Tone Quality and Vowels -- Blending -- Singing From Memory -- Diction -- Helping Choirs to Interpret More Fully -- 9 Special Choral Concepts and Techniques -- Phrasing -- Clever Breathing -- Staccatos -- Interweaving Lines -- Choral Crescendos and Decrescendos -- Breaking Habits That Minimize Expressivity -- "Amen" -- 10 Collaborating With Other Performers -- Piano Accompanists -- Mixing Professional and Amateur Singers -- Soloists -- Orchestras -- 11 Collaborating With and Supporting Composers -- Calling for Scores -- Commissioning -- Advising Composers -- 12 Concerts and Venues -- Performance Locations -- Placing the Choir and Instrumentalists -- Preparing the Venue -- The Day of the Concert. Practical Considerations on the Day of the Concert -- 13 The Concert Experience: Directing and Savoring -- 14 Choral Tours -- Working With Tour Companies -- What to Include in the Itinerary -- What to Include Regarding Performances -- Travel Tips for Ideal Rehearsals and Performances -- Deviations -- What Can Go Wrong -- 15 Making Recordings -- Finding a Recording Space -- Recording Engineers -- Scheduling Sessions -- In Session -- The Session Begins -- 16 Breaking Rules: When and Why It Is Acceptable -- When Not to Conduct -- When Not to Follow the Printed Score -- 17 The World of Professional Choristers: An Inside Look at The New York Virtuoso Singers -- Rehearsals -- What I Have Learned About Professional Singers -- What I Have Learned From Professional Singers -- Further Observations and Thoughts About Professional Singers -- 18 Performing Modern Music -- Complex Contemporary Choral Music -- 19 Final Thoughts -- Part 2 Anthology -- Appendix 1: Interpreting Johann Sebastian Bach's Matthäus-Passion (St. Matthew Passion) (Bärenreiter edition) -- Appendix 2: Interpreting Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem -- Appendix 3: Executing Fermatas in Haydn's Die Schöpfung (The Creation) (Oxford University Press edition) -- Appendix 4: Interpreting Giuseppe Verdi's Messa da Requiem (Edition Peters Nr. 4250 or Dover Publications) -- Index.
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.