Undergraduate Choral Conducting Blog

When I was practicing, I kept trying to imagine both lines in my head, which appeared to be an impossible task. It's a skill I would like to be able to cultivate; I understand that there are musicians who can look at a score and mentally hear all the parts in an orchestra.

My thoughts kept shifting from one part to another, though, so I resorted to a flow chart to diagram entrances and lifts. It was helpful to break it down into simpler steps with a clear visual cue to know things like "Left hand gestures here...right hand breathes here." I would have liked, however, to wean myself of the flowchart and have to think less.

I also let a bit of evil toe tapping creep in. I can control that, but oh, I curse the 5th grade piano teacher who encouraged me to wiggle my toe! Any suggestions on how to internalize the pulse?

Finally, Andrew encouraged me to try shifting the beat pattern from hand to hand during the middle system of the piece. It was a great idea because I didn't have to divide my attention by keeping both hands going, but it revealed a gap in my practice- I've never practiced the pattern with my left hand. It was quite amusing trying it for the first time in class; I watched my left hand flail and jerk with interest. Andrew explained that, mercifully, it's not a priority to be perfectly ambidextrous. I plan to do a little practice at least, so that it dosn't feel like a chunk of dead meat.

Posted by Hanna Dorn at 11:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I really enjoyed conducting today. It was fun and challenging to be able to do 2 counter parts, yet I really think they play off of each other. It was so fun to hear the piece after practicing with finale! I am so glad to have feedback on my conducting style and to be able to develop my skill better. Matt, I thought you did a great job of acknowledging our strengths and starting with positive comments. I think from the performances today, there were not a lot of negative points. I think each of the conductors have improved from last week and are seeming to gain confidence as well as becoming more comfortable in front of the group. I am a performer, and so I like to be in front of people!

Posted by Brooke Lane at 02:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I wanted to get my thoughts down while they are still fresh. In terms of my own conducting, I feel like I made definite progress. I took Andrew's advice and decided to concentrate on a few areas rather than trying to incorporate too many details too early. I am finding (and others agreed) that when I really concentrate on one aspect of conducting (my right-hand legato pattern for example), other aspects of my conducting suffer (breathing, cues, eye contact, etc.). I imagine that conducting is like learning an instrument in many ways. That is, practice is the only way to make parts of conducting automatic. I felt that a bit today in that I found that as I practiced my right hand pattern more, it became more embedded in my muscle memory and I didn't have to think about it quite as much. This freed me up to pay more attention to the cues.
A few practical things that I tried to incorporate that I think went a long way were: 1) I really studied the score and felt very comfortable with the interaction of the parts. Instead of relying on the score as I did last time (at the expense of eye contact), I didn't use the score. I felt the connection to the choir was much stronger without the "barrier". Psychologically, I suppose, it may have conveyed confidence in the score as well. 2) I tried to focus more on eye contact for the entrances, using my left hand only a little. This also made me more connected to the choir and that they were really following me. 3) I tried to make my pattern smaller. I was able to keep control much better this way. Andrew had a very good point today about saving gestures "outside the box" for special moments. It's hard to impart emphasis if the pattern is so large that there is nowhere to go!

I was impressed by the progress of my classmates as well. It's obvious that everyone really practiced and took the feedback to heart. I was also encouraged that some of us are making the same mistakes! I didn't feel so alone knowing that I'm not the only one to have too much motion in my wrist.

From this exercise, I have some great areas to work on. I'm going to work on keeping my wrist more flat so as not to obscure the beat, keeping my pattern more horizontal, and breathing! I think as I become more relaxed, that will come more easily. I still feel pretty tensed up!

Posted by Timothy Oesau at 06:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I thought today went much better than last week; it was probably just nerves last week, being the first time in front of this new group, because I was much more confident and relaxed today.

The basics went much better for me; most of my cues were pretty well executed, and I didn't mess up the beat pattern nearly as much. Plus, I made fewer negative faces to myself, especially in my first few run-throughs.

The first thing pointed out to me was that i was mirroring most of the time, which is something I've noticed about myself in the past. I've never had great hand independence, and I usually just don't know what to do with my left hand, so I end up mirroring, which is probably a bad habit to get into. I found it challenging to find a comfortable place for my left arm where it could be still and out of the way, not distracting or redundant.

I found today that I should also be focusing on what sort of expression I can add to the piece rather than being so mechanical. This would be a good place to find a way to use my left hand constructively once I can manage hand indepepndence a little better. I have to assume (to a certain degree) that the singers know what they're doing, and be able to move and shape the line between the parts better (as in mm. 14-15 or 21-22, where one part picks up where the other leads them) instead of focusing on cues and cut-offs.

For next week, I will have to work on not mirroring as much, and on finding a use for my left hand, which may be easier with some of the fermatas we learned today from Andrew. I'll also have to work on adding more expression and line to my conducting, which will force me to deal with the lack of resistance I tend to have in my gestures; they are often too fluffy and consequently not very expressive.

Thanks to Andrew and everyone for your helpful feedback!

Posted by Allison Innerbichler at 04:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I felt fairly good about conducting on Friday. One of my major problems in the past dealt with me moving from my shoulder instead of my collar bone. I think this was fairly successful for me. I did not get tired and felt I could move around very well.
One of my biggest issues in Friday's lab was staying with the beat pattern. I know that the beat pattern is not always set in stone, but I felt I could have stayed with it a little better. I try to do more creative things with my left hand which sometimes takes my focus away from the pattern. This shows me the pattern is not fully ingrained yet. Also, I try to do expressive motions with my right hand which distracts me, sometimes, to the point of getting lost.
I noticed fairly often that my motions were not big enough or influential enough. I need to get more comfortable just throwing myself out there. This holds true to some of the teaching exercises I have done as well. It seems as though since I know what I want that everyone else will automatically get it. However, when you are in front of the class conducting, or teaching, the response is great instant feedback. I will definitely try to be more clear with my gestures for the next lab.

Posted by Jonathan Edington at 04:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I agree with my classmates that we're lucky to have a very friendly, safe climate to experiment. I appreciate that, despite our wide variety of conducting styles and experience, it's a heck of a lot less intimidating than it could be. The partner and small group work especially helps with that.

Conducting the soprano line of the Mendelssohn was surprisingly tricky. I understand that my goal now is to quit the loud nose snortin' and begin to take mouth breaths. I guess the tough aspect of that is that, as a singer, I have been taught to breathe a certain way; I think the sniffling was my subconscious way of wearing a different hat. There's no reason, though, that as a conductor, I can't model the same sort of ribcage-expanding breaths that I would use as a singer. I think it's just a matter of practice and habituating myself to the idea.

I also plan to work on having a lower, stable center of gravity, and ingraining the beat pattern to be second nature. I think my right hand was actually doing okay at delineating beats, but I didn't trust it! I realize more and more that a huge part of conducting and performance generally is confidence. As Tim mentioned in class, you've got to just fake it until you get it.

Hanna

P.S. Should my internet ID be listed under "Primary Category?" It's not.

Posted by Hanna Dorn at 06:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Well, my first conducting experience did not go as well as I'd hoped. I had trouble remembering the breaths in the line even after several attempts to memorize them. I think there was something about being up in front of people that caused my memory to fail. Hopefully, with more experience, I'll be able to recall things better in front of a group.

After my first two attempts at conducting the soprano line, Matt told me that my right hand was flying way out to the right and that it was causing insecurity in my singers. He suggested that I not allow my hand to move past my elbow and the effect was amazing. The singers sounded way more confident and I felt more in control of my movements as well.

One other thing I need to be careful of is subdividing with my hand and wrist. I tend to feel multiple beats when I listen to a piece and I think this is why my hand bobs up and down, independent of my arm, while I'm conducting. It will be a challenge to relearn how to conduct without this subdivision and without increased tension in my arm.

Overall, this was an eye-opening first experience. I know even better now where I need to improve, which will be incredibly helpful for this week. Hopefully my next conducting attempt will yield decreased incidents of subdivision, a more engaged face, and an appropriately contained hand.

Posted by Lisa Heupel at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I enjoyed the format of conducting on Friday. I have not had conducting in about 5 years, so I was initially intimidated by this class. I really enjoyed Andrew's help with my section. He was excellent at both encouraging us to comment on our peers and sharing very insightful tips and observations. I also feel like class members really do want to help each other become better conductors. What a wonderful learning environment!

As far as my conducting went, I think it went as well as it can right now. I am considering Friday a baseline for my improvement. My biggest challenges right now are encouraging an easy breath and preparation for singing and also harnessing my energy. When I get in front of a crowd, I have this desire to please people and make them excited about life. As a conductor, I want to make them excited about music. I am going to try to pull in this energy a little so that people are easily welcomed into my conducting/teaching without feeling overpowered by my energy. This way, I will be able to use this energy more strategically.

Now about the blog...I would love to read other people's entire comments, but I can only read a compact version. (The first few sentences.) If someone thinks of this and I forget to mention it, could you please tell me how I can read other's comments. They seem very interesting.

-Amy

Posted by Amy Trowbridge at 03:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Although I was very nervous for conducting today, I feel it went better than I had planned. I prepared for it, but since I haven't taken conducting in 2 years, I felt as though I lost all of the skills I had learned previously. This was a good way for me to remember what I had issues with and what worked well.

When I conducted through the first time, I felt like I couldn't do 2 things at once. As soon as I opened my mouth slightly and sang with the song as I conducted, it helped me to feel the music more, rather than simply conducting a pattern. When I went through it again, this time without singing, I messed up the pattern once, but it still felt a lot more comfortable than when I had my mouth glued shut. I now know a few strengths and weaknesses from this first time up and I hope the second time I conduct, I will have overcome at least one of these weaknesses and have improved even more my strengths.

Posted by Stephanie Lundmark at 01:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I thought the lab on Friday was very helpful. I had gone in thinking I was much more prepeared than I perhaps should have thought, and it was a good reality check for me. I learned a lot about what I need to work on, much of which is the more basic things that I thought I had down better, like the beat pattern itself, let alone multi-tasking issues like independent hand movement.

The biggest impediment I found was, not surprisingly, my own nonverbal self-criticism. I've had issues with this since i can remember, so I ask your patience in the future while I continue trying to undo 21 years of auto-excoriation.

The major fixes for next week as i see it are basic coordination, especially with handling multiple parts, breathing with my mouth open, and not making faces at myself.

Posted by Allison Innerbichler at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Overall I was very pleased with my conducting for the soprano line of the Mendelssohn. I felt that had a strong grasp on the legato 3/4 pattern. It felt very connected and I believe I was using my entire arm with shoulder because I did not get tired at all. I was pretty surprised how independent my left arm was and I think I was able to shape a lot of the sounds. There was defiantly an emotional connection to the piece and I felt that I was connected to the group and exhibited good eye contact throughout.
While I breathed on almost every entrance, it was pointed out that I need to take the appropriate breath for the kind of sound I want to create. I also need to release that breath. I focus so strongly on breathing with the group that I forget to exhale and the sound of the group then suffers. I also need pay attention to my stance. It was addressed that I need to establish a well grounded position before I begin conducting. Then I will be able to have a more solid foundation which will allow me to move around a little bit more throughout the piece. Finally, I really need to work on not trying to make things perfect. I am a Type A person and this is something that I will need to acknowledge while conducting. Music is not supposed to be "perfect".
Thank you to my group and Professor Mehaffey for their great feedback!

Posted by Kate Kidwell at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I had a very positive experience conducting on Friday. One thing that is very helpful is the support of the class. I felt very supported in going in front of my group and making mistakes. I felt that all comments (to everyone including me) were delivered with a real spirit of camaraderie.

One interesting observation that I keep having is the difference between how I perceive myself and how I'm being perceived. The way I was conducting felt very different internally than how my classmates were reacting to it. For example, I felt that my conducting pattern was fairly contained in a small space. However, I realized after it was pointed out that I can use a much smaller space very effectively, and achieve better results. The larger pattern was causing me to have to conduct more quickly, and hence I would tend to slow down on the 3rd beat. This seemed to be something that the class shared.

Additionally, my first instinct in front of the class was to look at the score and not make eye contact. This was just crutch. I knew the passage fine, but it seemed to comfort me to look at it. I felt initially very exposed to be in front of everyone looking up at me!

I learned some very good strategies for the next time. I need to take a moment to internalize the tempo before beginning, not bounce on the beat (Andrew's point was very good about the framework shifting, making it less effective), continue to make eye contact, keep my elbow tucked in, and lead with my ulna.

Posted by Timothy Oesau at 08:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Conducting on friday was great! I really liked how we worked in partners at first. That was a nice way to gain confidence in my abiblity and a chance to "practice" before I led the entire group. I enjoy conducting and it was a pleasure to observe my classmates and to gain pieces of information and gestures from them.

Andrew did a great job of encouraging us and finding the positive in our conducting, as well as giving us feedback to improve our communication. He was able to summarize our style and asked us questions to get us to think about what our tempo is and what style we wanted to us.

Dr. Hamann's comments were welcome, too. She pointed out that I lunge at the choir and the effects of that. I was SOOO glad to have her point that out, because now I can work on that. When she came over to me and held me back, it was very helpful. I don't even know when I lunge, because it is habit now!

I am glad that I am able to get another opinion on my conducting and feedback to improve. Since I enjoy conducting, I want to improve and know what to work on. The break out groups were really productive to give us feedback and allow us to lead the group.

Posted by Brooke Lane at 08:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Concerning Friday, Sep. 20, 2007:

I felt good about my conducting on Friday. The feedback was encouraging: that I was clear, easy to follow, and was able to incorporate appropriate left hand gestures (though these feel pretty awkward and unnatural yet). In my practicing, I was surprised at how much of basic conducting skills came back, and also how difficult it was for me to conduct in 3, my body kept defaulting to the 4 pattern we've worked on. Ironically, the reason I'd like to be most comfortable staying in the 3 mind set, is so I feel better about breaking that pattern. Several points in the phrase I'd like to be able show a more linear, resistant sort of motion, but am afraid to do so, lest I loose my place. Breaking the pattern will also help me next week, when we will have to conduct both lines.

I would also like to master a more consistent, even motion. As my group members may remember, my beat three had a tendency to speed up. Perhaps if I concentrated on keeping the same sort of resistance on my "upstrokes" on beat 3 as I do on beats one and two, I will be truer to the tempo. Loosening my joints, especially my wrist and elbow, may also help. Andrew suggested conducting to a metronome- joy of joys. I'll have to try it.

I also received comments about increasing my eye contact. I think this will be a challenge for me as we add the second line next week. I'll have to keep reminding myself of the score this week!

Thanks for all the great help, group 2!

P.S. Matt - the "Primary Category" selections are still set to last year's roster. Thanks! CK

Posted by Claire Klein at 04:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I conducted poorly today, b/c sjklhkjhskljhkjhgkljhdfglkjhdfg

Posted by Matthew Mehaffey at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)