[MusicTlk] Choir Conducting

[Chase Crispin]

Hi Kelby,
I apologize for the very late response. I am a middle school vocal music teacher in Nebraska and am totally blind. I conduct choirs frequently. I know my gestures may look slightly different than other directors, so if my students don't respond to a gesture the way I expect, I show the gesture again and explain what I was intending. This helps them learn my gestures and respond appropriately in the future. I always use a braille score and do have an accompanist. I memorize the score form, entrances, dynamics, etc. But, I find that I don't fully memorize each individual part. I instead memorize the harmonies and tonality of the piece. If I have questions about specific pitches, I refer to the braille score which I always have in front of me on a music stand. I've found that fully memorizing every detail of the score is personally too much for me due to the number of pieces I teach at a time. I'm sure full memorization would be even more effective, but I have learned how to prioritize some elements to memorize to maximize my time. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have, so please feel free to contact me anytime.
Good luck!


Chase Crispin

-----Original Message-----
From: MusicTlk <musictlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of kelby carlson via MusicTlk
Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2022 3:12 PM
To: musictlk at nfbnet.org
Cc: kelby carlson <kelbycarlson at gmail.com>
Subject: [MusicTlk] Choir Conducting

I may have the opportunity to begin conducting a choir in the somewhat near future. I took a choral conducting class many years ago, but will confess to have forgotten 99% of it, including the gestures—a real shame since the professor went to some effort to make sure I got a lot out of the class.

I would like to know if anyone here has conducted a choir in any capacity. If so, what were your strategies? How did you obtain sheet music and use it effectively (e.g. did you end up needing to memorize everybody's parts?) Any help with this is very much appreciated.
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