Musicianship for Conductors

The Association of British Choral Directors

Led by Rebecca Berkley

This course will help you develop the musicianship skills you need as a conductor and it compliments abcd's Intermediate Level training days ( see Choral Conducting: An Intermediate Guide).This session can be booked as a stand alone training event, or as part of the Intermediate training days (as it will be useful for score preparation and rehearsal planning, and features some of the Intermediate repertoire).

We will start by practising how to read, model and sing all parts of the scores that you are conducting - focusing on how to read rhythms, melodies and chords in vocal scores, starting at different points in the scores. This will give you an understanding of your own areas of strength, and areas where you would benefit from further personal practice.

We will then focus on how to analyse the learning challenge the music represents for your singers and discuss how to plan a sequence of learning in your rehearsals that supports singers towards a successful performance.

Finally, we will investigate ways to integrate musicianship training into your rehearsals so that you can teach key musical concepts quickly and efficiently in rehearsals.

The session will use extracts from Fauré Requiem and Errolyn Wallen's The OK Song. Please bring copies of this music and a tuning fork to this session.

Rebecca is a choral director and Associate Professor in the Institute of Education, Reading University, where her work focuses on the importance of musical literacy in creative classroom practice and the development of musical knowledge in music teachers and students. She teaches musicianship from Foundation to Advanced levels.