Last summer, I had the privilege of attending the Choral Director’s Workshop attached to the Oregon Bach Festival. Several sessions were devoted to tweaking one’s conducting. Dr. Sharon Paul, of the University of Oregon, led the sessions which consisted of each participant conducting a piece and receiving feedback. In preparation, I felt confident that […]
#21 Model The Path My student teacher landed in my classroom the second semester. She saw a well-oiled-machine. The technique time had very littler verbal instruction. I was communicating with hand gestures. To her it seemed almost telepathic. Hand gestures for the primary vowels, tone placement, rules of transfer, and dynamics. All maticulously taught […]
#18 SUPERMODELINGWe have all had moments when our modeling for students was less than super and the student performance reflected it. When I model vocally a passage from a piece and tell my students “like this,” I better make sure my body alignment, breath, vowels, soft-palate, diction, and body language are what I want. Students […]
I am trying with renewed interest to finish this book!! I began last summer in an effort to make some notes listing some concrete things I could do to enhance my student’s individual practice. In the process, I hoped to gain knowledge that would improve my choral rehearsals. So, I went back and read through […]
Can your body language help you perform better? We preach that good body alignment is important to breath and tone. Does it help your confidence also? Performance not going well? How about expressing more … consciously change your body language. Watch this TED’s Conference presentation by Amy Cuddy. And I highly recommend this interview with David Kim.
Before you model, tell those for whom you are modeling what to look for. The author makes the observation that many times “shadowing” or “mentoring” is ineffective because the mentoree does not know what they are looking for. This happens in the choral rehearsal many times when I model or play a recording. After […]
PRACTICE PERFECT RULE #11: NAME IT Name each skill or technique you have identified as an important building block for outstanding performance. Monitor the use of this shared vocabulary: use the names, ask staff to use them, and then ensure that the names are being used correctly. Create a name for warm-ups, technique drill, […]
When teaching a technique or skill, practice the skill in isolation until the learner has mastered it. Uncover and retrain when compensatory skills are masking the need for isolated skill development. Confession, my students are masters at compensating for what they don’t know. Unfortunately, I am such a master teacher that I have learne how […]
Use data to pick out the top performers. Observe and analyze performance data to discern what skills top performers have in common. Analyze and describe those skills in terms that provide a clear map to others who want to replicate them. Training, training, training. I just sat in a rehearsal with Helnuth Rilling rehearsing the […]
Strive to ask participants to redo an action differently or better rather than just telling them whether or how it could have been different. Try to shorten the feedback loop and achieve correction as quickly as possible after an action that requires intervention. Always maintain a teaching mentality and focus on the solution (“cut more […]