Conducting was a discipline of which I had no experience whatsoever prior to last year, nor was it something that I had even considered would be a part of this course. The weekly lessons my classmates and I had with Hughina proved, however, to be challenging, enjoyable and worthwhile in expanding my musical sensibilities. The GTCS registration standards expect a Professional Commitment of “engaging with all aspects of professional practice” (p. 6), and I was more than happy to commit to this unexpected part of the course.

The vast majority of my classmates had, like myself, no conducting experience. Hughina’s extensive experience and high professional standards meant that each of us were able to quickly learn the basic skills required – indicating pulse with the right hand (in duple, triple and quadruple metre), and dynamics and phrasing with the left hand.

By the second tutorial, we began to gain experience of conducting our peers in a small choir. Despite my years of performing experience, I still found this a fairly daunting prospect. Having ultimate control of the ensemble was something I was not familiar with, and I found it a challenge to strike a balance between conducting effectively and appraising the performance in real-time.

Being able to critique my peers’ efforts was particularly useful in helping to identify facets of the conducting technique that required particular attention, and this method of peer assessment, combined with helpful feedback from Hughina, meant that I was able to make fairly quick progress on a skill that was new to me.

Although I did not have an opportunity to conduct an ensemble whilst on placement, I did find that the experience I gained in these CPS tutorials stood me in better stead when it came to rehearsing with the school choir in preparation for the Christmas concert. Whilst these rehearsals were generally informal, the skills gained during my (albeit brief) experience conducting a choir of my RCS classmates definitely helped me to better understand the logistics of delivering a cohesive performance in an such an environment.

I am glad to have had these lessons, and consider myself eager to explore further opportunities to develop this skill.

Back to home.