This education programme is designed for experienced primary and/or secondary school choral conductors who wish to increase their level of skill with guidance from a professional conductor. Presenter Dr Stephen Mould is highly renowned for his conducting of singers and currently Lecturer in Conducting and Opera Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Entry to this module is via submission of CV (or summary of conducting experience to date) and a video of no more than three minutes length, which is representative of the applicants current level of conducting.
The Advanced programme is project based – teaching of skills and methods using a performance outcome that the applicant is working towards.
Seminar 1
Part 1 (3 hours): Review practical conducting/podium skills and feedback on the audio-visual material submitted and the skills taught in the Rudimentary and Intermediate programmes.
Part 2 (6 hours): Participants will present their Conducting Project to the group. Through peer discussion challenges and concerns can be addressed, and techniques for working through the project can be developed. There is an intensive examination of the fundamentals of score preparation/score marking and strategic consideration of musical interpretation.
Seminar 2
Part 1 (3 hours): Review of progress to date and discuss issues that have arisen. Determine the most useful and strategical parameters of the practical session.
Part 2 (6 hours): Each candidate conducts and rehearses instrumentalists on the project material focusing particularly upon technical criteria of conducting, developing a rehearsal strategy, learning to predict potential problems and discussing appropriate solutions.
Seminar 3
Part 1: (3 hours): Final stage, from preparation to podium. The conductor as facilitator, manager and leader. The 75% of the conductor’s job that the audience never see.
Part 2 (6 hours): Final review of the project works with instrumentalists and the problems that lie within. Any unresolved issues are explored and discussed with practical solutions found. The final 60-90 mins are spent on a rehearsal/presentation of a significant part of the work, which is reviewed by the lecturer and critique given with peer group input encouraged.
Parramatta
Willoughby