10/26/07, Welcome
Well finally I walked out of a conducting episode and felt like everything I practiced went the way I wanted it to. I have decided not to take for granted the skill of great conductors anymore. When I watch myself in the tape, I see that I have grown in confidence and my pattern is stronger. I also see that I appear to try to conduct like a person whose arms are in a body cast. I never understood how much less control I had over the choir and my pattern when my arms were reaching out so far. Not only did I feel more in control, but I also didn't get as tired when I pulled my arms closer to my body. I am still working really hard on gaining left-hand independence and that is visible as well. I seem to pulse my left hand with the beat of my right hand when I am trying to use it independently, especially on crescendos. I wish every piece were as easy to conduct as Welcome, but I know that is very unrealistic. The most I can hope for is that my success on Welcome will eventually be brought to all other pieces. My task for this week is to continue working on independence and also to figure out a comfortable way to conduct so my right shoulder doesn't feel like rocks are moving around in it.
Comments
Your confidence really shows and helps your conducting a lot. I feel like a lot of conducting is just putting forth that confidence and recovering when things don't go quite the way you want.
Posted by: Tim Oesau | October 31, 2007 05:57 PM
Stephanie,
I think you have appraised the situation from Friday very well - this is also a useful skill.
Posted by: Andrew Crow | October 31, 2007 06:31 PM
It is really good to practice your skills for better improvement. If you practiced what to do and you know well everything that you must do, you become more confident about it.
Your communication skills will also help you to perform better and gain more confidence. If you get lost in your performance, or you forgot something about what you have practiced, you'll know how to handle the situation with your communication skills.
Posted by: Communication Skills | November 21, 2007 09:02 PM