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Date Posted: 19:05:22 04/13/04 Tue
Author: Brittany
Subject: Re: Are school teachers real conductors?
In reply to: Devin Bramel 's message, "Are school teachers real conductors?" on 18:03:29 04/05/04 Mon

Let's hope that if your going to be a band director you care enough about your directing because that's what you're doing all the time! I've been lucky enough in High School to have very clear directors. But, I've been under the direction of others, especially student teachers, who seem to have no idea what they're doing. So, I understand what you mean. I think this is something for us to consider because we will one day be in that position. So think...How do you want your students to react to your conducting. Not only does the music express the feeling of the piece, but I believe the directors movements/body actions do it!

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[> Re: Are school teachers real conductors? -- Dr. O., 10:59:52 04/16/04 Fri [1]

>I think it's interesting to note several things here: 1) Is there a difference between those who think of themselves as "directors" and those who think of themselves as "conductors"? 2) Conducting is a PERFORMANCE art; in graduate school conducting programs, it is virtually always part of the performance division (rather than music ed division, for example) of the school. As such, skill in conducting is similar to any other performance skill: it takes time and practice to develop. Fortunately, it CAN be developed by work and practice. 3) If our goal is to develop excellence in our ensembles, I don't see how we can neglect spending time improving our conducting. I don't mean only in a technical sense (beat patterns, clarity, etc.) but perhaps even more importantly in expressivity and musicianship. If we aren't advanced conductors, how will our ensembles become advance performers? I think ensembles very seldom exceed the ability level of their conductors. Sloppy, unclear conducting leads to sloppy, unclear playing. 4) As important as the physical attributes of conducting are the mental aspects. Does the conductor have a clear mental image of the piece? Does he/she have a sense of the musical flow and development of the piece? Has he/she analyzed the work for its emotional/expressive content? Finally, can he/she communicate these things (and others) to the musicians?
I could obviously go on (and on, and on) about this topic. Any other ideas?
Dr. O.


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[> [> Re: Are school teachers real conductors? -- *~Amanda~*, 07:48:02 04/19/04 Mon [1]

I have had experiences with both types of directors(those who are expressive and those who just wave their hands). I believe that most of the time the directors just don't know how to express. If they were never had an emotional conductor, then they never really knew what it was like. I saw a real difference in the group that I was in between directors, and I hope that I can be expressive and help the students feel the music just like the experiences that I had. School teachers need to be "real" conductors, that is how the audience stays attentive and understands the meaning of the music. If the conductor isn't helping the students then they can't express the music to the audience, or to themselves!


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[> [> Re: Are school teachers real conductors? -- Steven Tharp, 17:55:06 05/15/04 Sat [1]

This is a great question. I would first like to say that as Music Educators, it is our duty to make sure that we give the students the best musical experience possible. In my opinion, We are not conductors until the actual performance. We should be always teaching our students. You can be a great "conductor" but it is far more important to be a better educator and be clear with their conducting than to be a Conductor with bad teaching skills. But really, I don't think that teachers can be considered real conductors. I guess it depends on your definition of a conductor.


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