A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting

Rooted in the experience of a professional choral conductor, this book provides a guide to practical issues facing conductors of choral ensembles at all levels, from youth choruses to university ensembles, church and community choirs, and professional vocal groups. Paired with the discussion of practical challenges is a discussion of over fifty key works from the choral literature, with performance suggestions to aid the choral conductor in directing each piece.

Dealing with often-overlooked yet vital considerations such as how to work with composers, recording, concert halls, and choral tours, A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting offers a valuable resource for both emerging choral conductors and students of choral conducting at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Acknowledgements

Part 1: Leadership, Logistics, and Musical Insights

1. Responsibilities and Opportunities

2. Recruiting, Auditioning, and Assessing

3. Choosing and Learning Repertoire

4. Common Conductor Problems and How to Avoid or Fix Them

5. Acquiring a Solid Conducting Technique With No Wasted Motion

6. Logistics: Arranging your Singers and Placing your Choir

7. Running Rehearsals

8. Achieving a Better Choral Sound

9. Special Choral Concepts and Techniques

10. Collaborating With Other Performers

11. Collaborating With and Supporting Composers

12. Concerts and Venues

13. The Concert Experience: Directing and Savoring

14. Choral Tours

15. Making Recordings

16. Breaking Rules: When and Why It Is Acceptable

17. The World of Professional Choristers: An Inside Look at the New York Virtuoso Singers

18. Performing Modern Music

19. Final Thoughts

Part 2: Anthology

Appendix 1: Interpreting Johann Sebastian Bach’s: Matthäus-Passion (St. Matthew Passion) (Bärenreiter edition)

Appendix 2: Interpreting Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem

Appendix 3: Executing Fermatas in Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (The Creation) (Oxford University Press edition)

Appendix 4: Interpreting Giuseppe Verdi’s Messa da Requiem (Edition Peters Nr. 4250 or Dover Publications).

Index

Harold Rosenbaum is a critically acclaimed choral conductor who has led numerous choral ensembles over the course of a decades-long career. The founder of The New York Virtuoso Singers and The Canticum Novum Singers, he has collaborated with ensembles including the New York Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and has conducted 540 world premieres. Having taught at SUNY Buffalo, the Juilliard School, Queens College, and Adelphi University, he is now active as a guest conductor, clinician, and lecturer, and runs the Harold Rosenbaum Choral Conducting Institute, an annual program of conducting workshops. Visit his website at www.haroldrosenbaum.com to learn more.