Publisher: Berklee Press
Video Access Included

Learn the essential practices of contemporary conducting. This book will teach you to use the motions, cues, patterns, and practices used to lead ensembles, whether for orchestra, band, musical theater, opera, film orchestra, or other type of ensemble. You will learn techniques for keeping time, signaling musicians, and crafting your unique interpretation of the score, as well as how to command the stage presence necessary to lead a large ensemble—whether for concert performances or synching live performers to other media, such as film, recordings, musical theater, and dance.

Video demonstrations and annotated scores of orchestral excerpts from Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and others illustrate and let you practice various conducting challenges, such as cadenzas, rubato, and quickly changing time signatures. Also included are interviews with some of the most accomplished conductors of our time, such as John Williams, Lalo Schifrin, JoAnn Falletta, John Morris Russell, and others, providing perspective from the concert hall podium to the Broadway pit to the Hollywood sound stage.

You will learn to:
• Conduct in a way that gives your ensemble the support and clarity they need while permitting the necessary freedom required for them to be as expressive as possible
• Understand your role as a conductor and communicate effectively with your ensemble—during rehearsals, during performance, and generally as their leader
• Keep effective conducting posture to help you communicate clearly while referencing the score, using an effective field of motion, and maintaining healthy body ergonomics
• Perform standard beat patterns and their variations, and understand when and how to use them effectively—and when to move beyond standard patterns
Run effective rehearsals
• Analyze scores to develop your own interpretations, and annotate them for easy reference