Conducting Experience 3 Reflection
Colgrass - Old Churches

For this round I had the opportunity to conduct Michael Colgrass’ Old Churches. This piece is interesting because it has a duality of complexity. It is both simple and complicated. It is simple in that the melody and harmonies are all very straight-forward; also, the tempo is slow and unchanging. However, the alternative notation and aleatoric sounds are a certain cause for concern, as many students (and conductors!) may have difficulty interpreting these ideas well. Thus, I am glad that I had the opportunity to conduct this piece. I was able to think less about my pattern and think a bit more about the sounds I was hearing and how to make them happen the way I heard them in my head.

To be critical first, there are several things I can do differently. First, I spoke to quickly. Granted, the class was nearing its end and I was, of course, a bit nervous, but my speech was somewhat mumbled and hard to understand. Also, (and this is one of the problems I have that frustrates me the most!), I continually looked down while giving cues. I would look at the players and prepare the cues fairly well, but then glance down at my score immediately upon giving the cues; this is not conducive to confidence-building, and my students will not play as well. Additionally, my conducting can still be more expressive. I need to learn to try (and get more comfortable with) showing tension through my pattern; I can lead with the baton more, and make my wrist much less stiff. This is a problem that, while conducting, I did not realize, but as soon as Dr. Caneva came up and mentioned it to me (and upon watching my video, also), it became very obvious that my wrist was way too stiff.

If I can work on being expressive with my right hand, then perhaps my left hand will follow suit more easily. I think my right hand is actually holding back my left. Partially due to nerves and partially due to prior training, I am just too tight overall. Of course, this then relates to the expressiveness of all my conducting, including my face: if I loosen up overall, then even my facial expressions will be able to be more natural and effective.

To make a positive comment or two, I did seem to know and understand the score fairly well. Except on every single cue and entrance (as already discussed above), I tended to look at the ensemble more than I have in the past. And, when Dr. Caneva was working with me on some technique issues, I really didn’t need to look down hardly at all. Lastly, I really liked the way I handled the ending. With the exception of issues already discussed above, I liked the gestures I used to bring in and subsequently remove the individual voices in the last two (open) measures. The biggest thing I would have done differently here is simply to stretch it out longer. Though at the time it seemed like plenty long enough, the video made it quite obvious that I should have made the ending at least twice as long as it was.

Overall, this conducting felt like another small step in the right direction for me. It will be interesting to see what happens with the next conducting, as I will be approaching one of the standards of the band literature.

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