Conducting

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Practical Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• make efficient use of limited rehearsal time
• use manual and facial gestures to help performers enter and exit, to play or sing louder or softer and with specific expression
• mark up a score for rehearsal and performance
• use a baton to indicates 2, 3, 4 and 6 beats per bar, and more complex patterns

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• apply analytical technique to the score of an ensemble or vocal work
• anticipate problems that are likely to arise in the performance of a work
• find imaginative ways of solving problems in ensemble performance

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• manage a group of musicians of varying ability, so that you will be able to work with musicians ranging from professional players to schoolchildren.
• cope with the stress of putting together an assessed performance
• make effective use of limited time to achieve a desired result

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• ways in which to prepare for a rehearsal
• the gestures associated with entrances, cut-offs, and expression
• the basic conducting patterns in two, three and four beats, and some asymmetrical patterns
• what to listen for in rehearsal

The module, which meets for four hours per week throughout the semester, consists of lectures, practical sessions, and assessments. You will be taught the basic conducting posture, and patterns for conducting in 2, 3 and 4 beats per bar. You will then learn how to show attacks and releases, cues and pauses. Practical sessions will lead to a first assessment at the half-way point. In the second half of the module, you will be taught how to mark up a score for a rehearsal, and be shown simple methods for conducting in complex or asymmetrical patterns (5/8, 7/8 etc); the remainder of the semester is devoted to practical sessions on music of increasing complexity. The final assessment takes place at the end of the semester.

Teaching methods include

 lecturing and demonstrations

 classroom (concert hall) practice sessions

 videotaping conducting sessions

Learning activities include

 practical work in class

 marking up of scores, and other activities preparatory to rehearsals

 studying videotapes of yourself (and others) conducting

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.