“The Conductor’s Toolbox”: Resources for Leaders Wednesday, January 22, 2020
recommended by Jen Sper and Lora Moore, School Choral Music Specialists
The Conductor’s Toolbox by Richard Sparks
What do coaches, master teachers, and studies of the psychology of learning have to teach us about conducting? It turns out, quite a bit. In this concise yet insightful volume, Richard Sparks draws from years of experience in the professional choral world and from his time teaching at two leading universities to help choral conductors transform their craft and create truly artful experiences. He gains inspiration from legendary college basketball coach John Wooden and shares striking and refreshing parallels between coaching sports teams and conducting music ensembles. Sparks draws equally from research in the fields of teaching and the psychology of learning – and what a conductor can take from those areas as well. Just as an artisan builds a set of skills and learns the tools of the trade, conductors too must build a box of tools to help them learn, understand, and interpret music; lead rehearsals; and conduct.
“The Conductor’s Toolbox” conveniently and succinctly compiles these tools. Highlights include: assessing yourself and your choir; using modeling; developing good habits in yourself and your choir; learning and teaching new skills; rehearsing more efficiently; teaching fundamental elements of music; selecting repertoire that improves your and your choir’s skills; and improving your planning and pacing of rehearsals.
This book is for the young conductor starting out who wants to build a truly solid craft. It is also for the experienced conductor who wonders how to move to the next level, reenergize, and grow.
Aligning Voices by Dean Luethi
This book of versatile, pedagogically based choral warm-ups helps conductors take full advantage of this important time in every rehearsal, providing tools for assessment, musicianship, and ensemble unity at the same time singers are warming up their voices.
The exercises in “Aligning Voices” are organized into nine chapters, each focusing on a different area of choral technique: rhythm, brilliance, intonation, balance, dynamics, consonants, beginning consonants, diphthongs and ending consonants, and vowels.
Each warm-up contains two or more parts, allowing the director to work toward improving choral sound in a texture similar to that of the repertoire. Moreover, author Dean Luethi provides every warm-up in three voicings – SATB, SSAA, and TTBB – and sequentially organizes them by difficulty level. In addition, each section begins by defining the objective for each exercise and offering practical solutions for many of the common challenges choirs face in each area. These exercises go well beyond simply warming up the voice. This resource is a must-have for all choral directors looking to make the most of their warm-up time. A companion student edition that contains only the music notation for each warm-up exercise is also available.
Rehearsing the Choir by Stephen Sieck
If we could sit down with some of the best choral conductors of our time, what might we learn? In this book, directors at Iowa State University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Penn State University, St. Olaf College, and University of Southern California are interviewed. The book shares these directors approaches to: recruitment, auditions, and singer placement in ensembles; selection auditions, and singer placement in ensembles; rehearsal planning; choral timbres and vocal pedagogy; intonation; kinesthetic learning and choreography; traditions and choral culture. Interviews with students and observations of live rehearsals complement these director interviews to provide readers with a comprehensive look at how these choral programs consistently achieve success.
A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting by Bradley Ellingboe
With nearly 40 years of experience in the choral field, esteemed conductor and composer Bradley Ellingboe shares his wisdom, tips, and practical advice in an accessible and enjoyable style. His pragmatic approach will help you learn the right questions to ask for your own unique situation, and will help you learn to arrive at your own solutions.
The interrelated chapters guide you through the necessary steps for preparing a successful concert or season, making effective rehearsal plans, efficiently preparing your scores and conducting gestures, problem solving issues of vocal technique, and much more. The appendix of correlated, reproducible worksheets, templates, music, and handouts will help you more easily organize your plans and apply the useful suggestions.
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About the Authors:
Jen Sper has been with Stanton’s since 2006. A former middle school and high school choral director, she holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music. An active choral singer and accompanist throughout the Central Ohio area, she also enjoys good food, running (to counteract the good food…) and the Muppets.
Lora Moore joined the Stanton’s choral staff in July 2018. A former middle school and high school director of 32 years, she holds a Bachelor of Arts in Choral Music from Capital University and a Master’s of Arts in Choral Music from The Ohio State University. Currently she is a church choir director, operates a private voice/piano studio and is active as a clinician and accompanist. During the off hours, Lora enjoys scouting out new day trips in Ohio to balance what her budget allows for her frequent trips to New York City to visit family and take in a Broadway show or two!