WEEK 1

Welcome to WEEK 1.  This week's activities include:

SCORE STUDY ACTIVITIES:

• identify the basic components of a musical score

CONDUCTING PRACTICE:

• learn basic conducting posture, how to start, sustain, and stop sound
• practice conducting with steady time 
• practice conducting at 2 different dynamics (forte and piano) 

Learning to read the musical score
Let's take a look at the score you'll be conducting from for the Student Conductor Assessment.  This might be the first time you've encountered a full instrumentation score.  The first step is to identify the basic components.

• Composer/Title
• Instrument list (Which instruments is the piece written for?)
• Location of instrument parts within the score
• Typically the highest sounding instrument (piccolo or flute) is at the top and lower sounding instruments (tuba) are at the bottom.
• Key Signature(s) (It will likely be different for various instruments.  More on that later.)
• Time Signature(s)
• Tempo(s)
• Repeats (if applicable)

Basic Conducting Posture

The Conducting Area:
The conducting area can be defined as generally a 3 1/2 foot by 3 1/2 foot box in front of the body from chin to just below the waist.  The majority of conducting gestures will be delivered in the conducting area.

Conducting Area

The Beating Plane:
The beating plane is the imaginary surface on which you place your beats.  For the purposes of beginning practice, this plane is stationary (does not change location).  Each ictus should be placed on this imaginary horizontal surface.

The Beating Plane

Starting, Sustaining, and Stopping Sound

The Left Hand

Conducting Exercises
Practice conducting the following two exercises in "1" (placing the ictus in the exact same location)

Exercise 1 (Conducting Steady Time)

Exercise 2 (Changing Dynamics)

Exercise 3 (Changing Dynamics)

Conducting Checkpoints
The first few weeks of this training will include a "Conducting Checkpoint."  These are designed as self-administered quizzes.  You are encouraged to practice them to the point of mastery.  You should also consider conducting each week's checkpoint for your band director.  This will give him/her an opportunity to see your improvement and make suggestions as necessary.  

Conducting Checkpoint 1 is below:

Journal Reflection 

What, if anything, surprised or confused you about the musical score?  Do you find it easy to understand?  Does your band have all the instruments (and players) necessary for this piece?  Do you know where each of these instruments are located in your band's setup?  Were exercises 1, 2, and 3 easy to accomplish?