December 2004
Learning to Conduct — in Cork	Show Menu

Joan Alcorn, Jennifer Huston, Geraint Waters, Carol Wilkinson The CNC (Cumann Náisiúta na gCór) Annual Choral Conducting Summer School took place in the Music Department of University College Cork from Monday 23 to Friday 27 August last. For the conducting module of the Archbishop’s Course in Church Music, four students went off to Cork for the five days. Three took the basic level in conducting, and the fourth, who had attended Peter Barley’s choral conducting course the previous year, took the transition level — which is the second of the four grades that are on offer. There were ten students in the basic course this year and the transition level course had about double that. The following article is made up of extracts of the reports written by them.

Church Music Committee members and students of the Archbishop’s Course in Church Music, who received their certificates after evensong in Christ Church Cathedral on November 7: Kerry Houston, Ruth Maybury,Derek Verso, Jennifer Huston, Ven. Edgar Swann, Archbishop John Neill, Geraint Waters, Donald Maxwell, Joan Alcorn, Carol Wilkinson

Initial reactions

“Monday 23 August, 2004. We left the apartment in Castlewhite for the 20 minute uphill walk to the Music Dept of UCC. Signed in, and made our way to meet our tutor and accompanist. As we were a small group of ten, we got to know each other quickly. We were all very self-conscious at the beginning, with arms still and faces rigid with concentration!

Course members were from all walks of life and from all age groups, and from differing backgrounds, but all present had some requirement for developing choral conducting and training skills, whether it be for their work (as in the case of the many teachers on the course), to help them in their roles as amateur choral conductors, or as part of another course of study (as was the case for myself).

The first day was totally alien to me as I had never stood in front of a choir before waving my hands about — and the hand actions! Totally foreign! By the second day however, we had a basic grasp of what was required and we started to lose out inhibitions.”

I wondered what I was doing leaving my summer garden and friendly dog for this draughty building in Cork!”

The Course

The course took the form of the study, from a conductor’s perspective, of a number of short works (the music for which had been sent to participants beforehand), where each class member was invited in turn to conduct the choir in a piece, or a section of a piece, the rest of the class acting as the choir. The conductor got personal tuition from the tutor, while the rest of the class observed and made mental notes in preparation for their own turns in front of the ‘choir’. Each member of the class usually had one conducting session per day.

The first day passed quickly before we adjourned to a local hostelry to discuss the day. Then back to the apartment to do our homework — in front of a mirror practising conducting one of our songs. This pattern was repeated for the rest of the week, each day learning some new music and practising conducting it in from of the class.

Each day was split into four sessions of either conducting or vocal tuition. Throughout the week we were introduced to many of the skills involved in training a choir. We learned the basic conducting techniques, tips on running a choir rehearsal, from warm-up exercises to teaching new music, and essentially gained the confidence to stand up in front of a choir and conduct effectively.

By the middle of the week we gained more and more confidence and knowledge in what we were about. We worked long days and also had to prepare homework each night.

We also had two vocal workshops which I found very challenging — but helpful. After many years of incorrect breathing, I am now trying to improve my technique!

As the week progressed, it was interesting to see how each of us was improving, growing in confidence and also now able to help each other!

At the end of the week, a concert was held for all except those in the advanced class, each class member choosing a piece in which they conducted their fellow class members, the audience consisting of members of the other classes.

The tuition provided by Carmel Griffin was of a high standard, and was notable for her clear instruction and in particular for her encouragement of the less- experienced members of the class. It was particularly rewarding to see class members who had started the course nervously, growing in confidence as the week progressed until they successfully negotiated their final ‘trial by concert’. The partnership between Carmel and Helen Colbert, accompanist for the week, was also notably successful, Helen managing to successfully and sometimes humorously reinforce Carmel’s teaching points through deft use of the accompanist’s art!

High points and low points

Great music; good teachers; nice fellow students, many new friendships;

Catering was a nighmare and we had to eat in one of the corridors;

All in all, a very worthwhile experience. If I have any criticisms, one would be that in my case the class size was perhaps a little on the large size, which reduced the amount of conducting time that any one individual spent in front of the rest of the class – perhaps there should be a restriction on maximum class sizes here. My main criticism, however, would be that there was too much emphasis on conducting a choir, and not enough on training a choir, (*) e.g., how to identify and rectify problems of tuning, phrasing, ensemble etc. In this regard, it compared unfavourably with the ‘inhouse’ training given the previous year by Peter Barley, where these aspects were dealt with more extensively, and were incorporated into the assessment exercise at the end of the course of study.

Final comments:

I would hope that the choral training element of the Archbishop’s Certificate in Church music would be hosted in conjunction with the CNC Summer School in Cork in 2005, especially since the Summer School will be celebrating its 25th anniversary and the city itself is designated the European City of Culture for that year.

The course turned out to be a very enjoyable and rewarding experience, with a great sense of comradeship between the participants, not only within each class but among classes also. Many of the course participants stayed in student accommodation in UCC, so this camaraderie could be continued into the evening. In particular, the willingness of class members to assist and encourage each other was apparent, and contributed to a positive learning experience throughout the week.

Even though this particular choral training workshop had a much broader canvas than that required by the Archbishop’ Course, the vast musical experience we gained in Cork was of immense value, and our needs in music specific to the Church of Ireland were more than adequately catered for in sessions held in the Theological College with Tom Gordon, Mark Duley and our individual organ tutors.

Personally I found this Summer School very rewarding and satisfying and I came away with great enthusiasm and interest in choral music and singing. The tutors were very experienced in their craft and in imparting that skill on the rest of us, and we were provided with a very useful repertoire suitable for a variety of occasions and choirs.

From a social point of view I found it very exciting to have the opportunity of meeting other music enthusiasts from all over the country, creating a valuable network of support for future music adventures. It was a nice surprise to see so many other young people there and I’ve certainly made good friends I hope to reunite with at the next Summer School.

My one disappointment was that we did not get an opportunity to conduct a four-part song, but the small group had only one male student!

As this was my first experience of a conducting, I found it very tiring and intense, but also very rewarding.

Overall not a bad week. I needed a holiday after it. I was totally exhausted!’

The Editor would like to thank the four students for their prompt responses to his request for reports on the course.

(*) It might be pointed out that the course was specifically a conducting course. Ed.

Letter to the Editor

• Trumpet March (subtitled ‘Mrs Thing enjoys a change from Purcell’)
• Song (subtitled ‘Mrs Thing is in reflective mood’)
• Jig (subtitled ‘Mrs Thing goes to Ireland’)
• Rag (subtitled ‘Mrs Thing reflects on her misspent youth (if only)’)
• Toccatina (subtitled ‘Mrs Thing dazzles the congregation’)

It is published by fagus-music.com (they have a website). All the pieces (except Rag) are attractive, and more importantly, easily playable. Hope this is of some use.

Regards

Mervyn Cooper

(Editor: Interestingly enough, ‘Suite for Mrs Thing’ is reviewed in the September issue of Church Music Quarterly. The review finishes: “The wide variety of styles and moods is refreshing and there is something here for everyone. Ronald Watson is to be congratulated on writing music which is of a high standard, not writing down to the less-experienced player.”)

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