One of the finest debut novels in years (Colum McCann) features a 30-year-old conductor making his comeback in a Germany on the verge of reunification.
Known internationally for his work as a teacher of conducting, Gustav Meier's influence in the field cannot be overstated. In The Score, the Orchestra and the Conductor, Meier demystifies the conductor's craft with explanations and illustrations of what the conductor must know to attain podium success. He provides useful information from the rudimentary to the sophisticated, and offers specific and readily applicable advice for technical and musical matters essential to the conductor's first rehearsal with the orchestra. This book details many topics that otherwise are unavailable to the aspiring and established conductor, including the use of the common denominator, the "The ZIG-ZAG method", a multiple, cross-indexed glossary of orchestral instruments in four languages, an illustrated description of string harmonics, and a comprehensive listing of voice categories, their overlaps, dynamic ranges and repertory. The Score, the Orchestra and the Conductor is an indispensable addition to the library of every conductor and conducting student.
Expressive Conducting: Movement and Performance Theory for Conductors applies the insight of movement and performance theory to the practice of conducting, offering a groundbreaking new approach to conducting. Where traditional conducting pedagogies often place emphasis on training parts of the body in isolation, Expressive Conducting teaches conductors to understand their gestures as part of an interconnected system that incorporates the whole body. Rather than emphasizing learning specific patterns and gestures, this book enables student and professional conductors to develop a conducting technique that is centered around expressing the themes of the music. Drawing parallels to the worlds of acting, this text treats the body as the conductor’s instrument. Coaching notes derived from years of experience as a performance movement specialist offer readers approachable methods for eliminating communication barriers—both conscious and subconscious—to encourage optimal performance, highlighting acting theory, movement exercises and the significance of weight distribution. Unlike other conducting approaches, this text understands that conducting resonates throughout the entire body and is not conveyed by the hands or baton alone. With a comprehensive consideration of the conductor’s body and movements, featuring over 50 original illustrations, Expressive Conducting advances strategies for improving one’s conducting skills in rehearsal and performance. Jerald Schwiebert has developed a practical language for expressive conducting. Together, Schwiebert and Barr present a text that is suitable for conducting students, instructors, and professionals alike.
"This book is written particularly for use in teacher-training institutions which offer a course in conducting for majors in Music Education and also, for individual use by beginning conductors in the field. It is designed to serve as a study guide rather than as a self-sufficient, exhaustive treatise. The book is aimed specifically at the problems most frequently encountered by the conductor of high school choral and instrumental organizations but the fundamental procedures are applicable to all levels of instruction." -- (page i, preface).
"Explosively passionate, this story of forbidden love and unmet potential is ... for anyone who’s ever felt the ineffable power of music." —Aja Gabel, author of The Ensemble The Piano Student is a novel about regret, secrecy, and music, involving an affair between one of the 20th century’s most celebrated pianists, Vladimir Horowitz, and his young male student, Nico Kaufmann, in the late 1930s. As Europe hurtles toward political catastrophe and Horowitz ascends to the pinnacle of artistic achievement, the great pianist hides his illicit passion from his wife Wanda, daughter of the renowned conductor Arturo Toscanini. Based on unpublished letters by Horowitz to Kaufmann that author Lea Singer discovered in Switzerland, this is a riveting and sensitive tale of musical perfection, love, and longing denied, with multiple historical layers and insights into artistic creativity.
In-text URLs can be accessed via the “Features” tab of the publisher’s website. Conductors face a multitude of hurdles as they strive to obtain a foothold in the professional world. Once they have attained a position, there are obstacles both on and off the podium to keeping that position as well as advancing in the profession. Founding conductor of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra, pedagogue, and frequent guest conductor for both pops and classical concerts, Carl Topilow is in a unique position to help conductors navigate their careers. The Orchestral Conductor’s Career Handbook takes readers through the step-by-step process of establishing a career in orchestral conducting. Through his experiences with professional, pops, conservatory, community, youth, summer festival, opera and ballet orchestras, Topilow provides practical tips for conductors of any orchestra type and at any level of their development. Filled with personal stories from Topilow’s career, the handbook provides insights on an array of topics, including applying for conducting programs and conducting positions, connecting with audiences, developing interpersonal relations within the orchestra family, starting your own orchestra, interacting with donors, and beyond. It also presents fresh ideas for programming, rehearsing, and approaches to standard repertoire pieces.
The question of how musical coordination in a school wind band is addressed by pedagogues was qualitatively reconstructed using videographic interaction analysis. A process of Hervorhebungspraktik ('practice' of 'highlighting') was observed, which gradually brought musical elements out of their temporal context and into collective perception, allowing both atmospheric interaction with content and the growth of professional vision. A process of deconstruction and reintegration takes place as musical elements, now present in collective consciousness, withdraw back into the piece as a whole. This necessitates an educational approach emphasizing not only the elements themselves, but the relationships between them. The realms of edusemiotics and phenomenology give us a pragmatic way (in both a Deweyan and a Peircean sense) to approach learning in music-making that goes beyond the idea of (co-)constructivism as content-with-agency, teacher and student participate in coordinative interaction. Aimee Beaulieu Schmidt is a native Texan with teaching experience in American and German public education. As a band director and orchestral musician, she has helped build music education programs on two continents. She lives with her husband and two daughters near Frankfurt, Germany. Her research focuses on musical coordination, edusemiotics, and qualitative video analysis. Aimee Beaulieu Schmidt is a native Texan with teaching experience in American and German public education. As a band director and orchestral musician, she has helped build music education programs on two continents. She lives with her husband and two daughters near Frankfurt, Germany. Her research focuses on musical coordination, edusemiotics, and qualitative video analysis.