MUCD 441: Choral Conducting II
[class number: 43245 D; 2 units]
Fall 2012:
Tues & Thurs, 10:00 am. – 11:50 pm. Booth 100

InstructorDr. Cristian Grases

OfficeMUS 203

Phone213-740-3225

E-mail

Office HoursAs posted

Purpose of the Course: The conducting program at USC is designed to give students increasing experience with the technical and expressive skills that conducting demands. Choral Conducting will equip students with basic conducting techniques and rehearsal methods as applied to specific problems of choral conducting. Students will then apply these techniques and methods in practice-conducting experiences in class.

Required Texts:

  • Conducting II Course Reader

BRING YOUR TEXT AND ASSIGNED MUSIC TO CLASS EACH DAY

Required Materials: 1) baton

2) metronome

Suggested Materials:

  • Phillips, Kenneth, Basic Techniques of Conducting, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. (ISBN: 0-19-509937-0).
  • Collins, Don L., Teaching Choral Music, second edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. (ISBN: 0-13-081356-7).
  • Robinson, Russell & Jay Althouse, The Complete Choral Warm-up Book, Van Nuys: Alfred Publishing.
  • Demorest, Steven ed., Creating the Special World. A Collection of Lectures by Weston H. Noble, Chicago: GIA Publications, 2005.
  • Wall, Joan et all., Diction for singers, Redmond: PST…Inc, 1990
  • Music Dictionary (selected from the following list):
  • The A to Z of Foreign Musical Terms by Christine Ammer
  • The New Harvard Dictionary of Music by Don Randel
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Music by Kennedy/Bourne

InstructionalMethodology:

1. Conduct other students during class and offer (as well as receive) constructive feedback.

2. Continual improvement through observation and assessment of digitally taped conducting assignments posted to Blackboard with personalized responses from instructor to electronic self-evaluation forms

Course Objectives and Goals:

Objectives:

To apply basic conducting skills to specific choral repertoire. The student should have been exposed to the theory and mechanics of skills such as:

  • Conduct basic beat patterns (simple, compound and subdivided)
  • Conduct basic beat styles (legato, marcato and staccato)
  • Rhythmic accuracy
  • Cues and releases on various beats
  • Communication of dynamics (including independent left hand functions)
  • Facile and comfortable baton technique
  • Basic rehearsal techniques
  • Demonstrate correct body alignment and hand positions
  • Breathing with, and for, the ensemble
  • Demonstrate basic techniques in non-verbal communication, which will allow the conductor to more effectively render a musical performance by becoming a true reflection of the score

Goals:

Upon the completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Confidently lead an ensemble in basic choral repertoire
  • Express musical concepts through effective conducting gestures
  • Conduct changes in meter, tempo and dynamics
  • Accurately reproduce (and/or verbalize) and internalize all aspects of the written score including pitch, rhythm, articulation, expressive elements and written instructions
  • Define general conducting terms
  • Understand more fully the roles and responsibilities of the conductor
  • Evaluate other conductors’ skills as well as their own through the use of videotape
  • To understand performance indications in multiple languages and incorporate them into performance
  • Conduct preparations and releases for all counts
  • Conduct cues with either arms
  • Conduct asymmetrical and changing meters
  • Demonstrate ability to analyze and synthesize the score for conception, interpretations, rehearsal, and performance

Attendance Policy: The presence and active participation of each individual is essential to the progress of the entire class, as the class serves as the lab ensemble for each student conductor. Therefore, attendance at all class meetings is expected, even if you are not conducting that day. Serious illness or other attendance problems should be discussed with the instructor. If the student is absent for any reason, it is the responsibility of that student to contact the instructor for the assignment prior to the absence.

Class ScheduleThe general schedule for this class is Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00AM to11:50PM inBooth 100.

GradingPreparation (10 pts. per day x 29 days) 290

Videotaping (6) 100 points each 600

Video Self-evaluations (6)20 points each 120

Transposition Ex.50 points 50

IPA Project50 points 50

Warm-ups Project50 points 50

Phenomenology Project 50 points 50

Appreciation 40 points 40

(Participation + Score markings)

Final Conducting Exam200 points200

Total Possible Points: 1450

SCALE

93100% = A7779% = C+

9092% = A7376% = C

8789% = B+7072% = C

8386% = B6769% = D+

8082% = B6366% = D

6062% = D

Self-Evaluations: Learning occurs when we take in information, reflect upon it, critically analyze it, make sense of it and incorporate it in with what we already know. Reflective writing enables the documentation of experiences, thoughts, questions, ideas and conclusions that signpost our learning journey. A list of questions is included below to guide your process.

  • What did you notice in your conducting that surprised you?
  • What do you like about your conducting? What are your strengths?
  • Which areas need improvement? How will you improve them?
  • How do you feel about conducting?
  • How have your knowledge and skills as a conductor improved?
  • What did you learn?
  • What did you hear as you were conducting? Were you aware of changes in sound quality through using different gestures?
  • How/what did you feel overall?

**Cell phones must be turned off and text messaging is not allowed during class time.

Projects:

  • Transposition Project: This project consists on rewriting a musical excerpt for choir that is written in the old system of multiple clefs. The student will produce a new score writing all the music and the text for all four choral parts using the standard system of clef notation (treble and bass clefs).
  • IPA Project: The student will be given a text commonly used in choral settings and will produce the IPA translation. This assignment can be hand written or typed.
  • Warm-ups Project: The student will produce a series of five (5) warm-up exercises thought to be used for an intermediate level choir. Only one iteration of the melodic material is necessary (it is understated that this will be sung in ranges progressively higher and lower). The exercises should address the following:

Exercise 1 (phonation/vibration): a descending exercise with no leaps focused on the production of vibration in the mask. Use fricative and/or nasal consonants. The span of the melodic material should be no larger than a fifth.

Exercise 2 (vowels): a descending exercise using a combination of fricative consonant onset and opening to any vowel. The span of the melodic material should be no larger than a fifth and can include some leaps.

Exercise 3 (range): any exercise that spans at least an octave. It could be crafted in any direction and using any combination of leaps and syllables.

Exercise 4 (problem solving): the student will be given 5 musical excerpts containing a potential choral issue. The student will choose one (1) of these issues and craft a warm-up exercise that addresses this musical issue.

Exercise 5 (listening/ensemble singing): the student will write an exercise that addresses the need for singers to listen to other parts. This exercise can be a round, a harmonic progression, chords and chord progressions, or any combination of ideas that allow the singers to connect and listen.

  • Phenomenology Project: the student will be given a musical excerpt that has edition mistakes. The student will rewrite the entire excerpt with all its parts and correcting the editorial mistakes. This project is not required in the summer session.

Blackboard: This class will utilize USC’s Blackboard system. Conducting exercises will be videotaped digitally; your individual conducting segments will then be uploaded to Blackboard. You will complete self-evaluation forms and turn them in by the due date. No credit will be given for selfevaluation forms turned in later than one week after the video clips have been posted onto Blackboard.Other class materials may be posted on Blackboard; it is your responsibility to check Blackboard regularly. You will not need a VHS tape for this class.

Academic Honesty: The University in its quest for truth and knowledge embraces honesty and integrity. These fundamental values must not be compromised. The trust and respect among professors, students and the society need to be vigilantly protected. Cheating andplagiarism can be neither justified nor condoned as this would destroy the ideals and purposes of higher education. Students enter the University to gain the knowledge and tools necessary for participation in society. Academic integrity is one foundation for a society based on trust and honesty. Therefore, the University takes seriously its responsibility for academic honesty

Policy on Accommodations For Students With Disabilities: The University of Southern California is committed to full compliance with the RehabilitationAct (Section 504) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As part of the implementation of this law, the university will continue to provide reasonable accommodation for academically qualified students with disabilities so that they can participate fully in the university’s educational programs and activities. Although USC is not required by law to change the “fundamental nature or essential curricular components of its programs in order to accommodate the needs of disabled students,” the university will provide reasonable academic accommodation. It is the specific responsibility of the university administration and all faculty serving in a teaching capacity to ensure the university’s compliance with this policy.

The general definition of a student with a disability is any person who has “a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more such person’s activities,” and any person who has “a history of, or is regarded as having, such an impairment.”

Reasonable academic and physical accommodations include but are not limited to: extended time on examinations; substitution of similar or related work for a non-fundamental program requirement; time extensions on papers or projects; special testing procedures; advance notice regarding booklists for visually impaired and some learning disabled students; use of academic aids in the classroom such as note-takers and sign language interpreters; accessibility for students who use wheelchairs and those with mobility impairments; and need for special classroom furniture or special equipments in the classroom.

Honor Code: Specific guidelines governing academic integrity are described in SCampus. Additional information can also be found on the Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards website at

The instructor reserves the right to modify the syllabus during the Semester. This will be done in a timely manner so students will be aware of the modification.

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COURSE OUTLINE MUCD 441 – Fall 2012
Date / Subject / Graded Material
Tu Aug28 / Overview of Course, Blackboard
Unit 1
  • Review – Basic Patterns (1, 2, 3 and 4), Subdivisions, Articulations, Dynamics, Releases/Breaths, Cues, Mirror (KP. Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18)
  • Fermatas and entrances. Derived gestures (KP. Chapter 24)
  • Prepared Levare (KP. Chapter 22)
  • Conducting Exercises
  • Bach Chorale (KP page 144)

Th Aug 30 / Unit 1 [cont.]
Reading: Score Study (DC. 368-373)
Tu Sep 04 / Review Unit 1
Unit 2
  • Cueing Polyphony
  • Sicut Cervus (Palestrina)
  • Sanctus from Missa Brevis (Lotti)

Th Sep 06 / Unit 2 [cont.]
Reading: The Master Teacher (DC. 90-105) / Video Taping #1 – Conducting Exercises / Bach
Tu Sep 11 / Unit 2 [cont.] / Self-Evaluation #1 Due
Th Sep 13 / Unit 2 [Review]
Unit 3
  • The orchestra. Transpositions, placement (KP. Pages 165, 166, 173, 174, 191, 192)
  • Choral-Symphonic music
  • He watching over Israel from Elijah (Mendelssohn)
Transposition exercises
Tu Sep 18 / Unit 3 [cont.] / Video Taping #2 – Palestrina and Lotti
Th Sep 20 / Unit 3 [cont.]
Tu Sep 25 / Unit 3 [cont.]
Reading: Voice Classification, Repertoire (DC. 357-368) / Self-Evaluation #2 Due (taping 2)
Transposition exercise(s)
Th Sep 27 / Unit 4
  • Changing Meters (KP. Chapter 25)
  • Ubi Caritas (Chant and Durufle)
/ Video Taping #3 – He watching over Israel
Tu Oct 02 / Unit 4 [cont.]
Reading: Seating (DC. 348-357) + (WN. Lecture 5) / Self-Evaluation #3 Due (taping 3)
Th Oct 04 / Unit 4 [cont.]
Tu Oct 09 / Unit 5
  • Asymmetrical Meters
  • Conducting exercise
  • Rejoice in the Lamb (Britten)
/ Video Taping #4 – Ubi Caritas
Th Oct 11 / Unit 5 [cont.]
Reading: Auditions and preparations (DC. 343-348)
Tu Oct 16 / Unit 5 [cont.]
Mock audition / Self-Evaluation #4 Due (taping 4)
Th Oct 18 / Unit 5 [cont.]
Tu Oct 23 / Unit 6
  • Diction in music
  • Languages and Translations
  • IPA
/ Video Taping #5 – Conducting Exercise / Rejoice in the Lamb
Th Oct 25 / Unit 6[cont.]
TuOct 30 / Unit 6 [cont.]
Reading: Warm-ups (R&A, introduction) / Self-Evaluation #5 Due (taping 5)
Th Nov 01 / Unit 7
  • Recitativo
  • Elijah (Mendelssohn)
  • Messiah (Handel)
/ IPA and translation Project
Tu Nov 06 / Unit 7 [cont.]
ThNov 08 / Unit 7 [cont.]
TuNov 13 / Unit 7 [cont.] / Warm-up Project
ThNov 15 / NO CLASS
TuNov 20 / Unit 7 [cont.] / Video Taping #6: Mendelssohn / Handel
ThNov 22 / THANKSGIVING
TuNov 27 / Unit 8
  • Phenomenology
  • Text layout exercise
/ Self-Evaluation #6 Due (taping 6)
ThNov 29 / Unit 8 [cont.]
TuDec 04 / Unit 8 [cont.]
Review for Final
ThDec 06 / FINAL / Phenomenology Project

KP = Phillips, Kenneth, Basic Techniques of Conducting, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. (ISBN: 0-19-509937-0).

DC = Collins, Don L., Teaching Choral Music, second edition, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1999. (ISBN: 0-13-081356-7).

R&A = Robinson, Russell & Jay Althouse, The Complete Choral Warm-up Book, Van Nuys: Alfred Publishing.

WN = Demorest, Steven ed., Creating the Special World. A Collection of Lectures by Weston H. Noble, Chicago: GIA Publications, 2005.

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