MUS 310 - Music Theory in Practice: Introduction to Conducting

What skills and responsibilities are expected of the conductor of a musical ensemble? When and for what purposes is gesture necessary? How can this role adapt to meet the individuals in the room and their strengths? This course will offer an introduction to the craft and tasks of conducting, with emphasis on score study and analysis, audiating and imagining the score, keyboard and score reading skills, basics of gesture and baton technique, rehearsal methods and strategies, and the evolving considerations of programming and performance practice. Students will start the term by introducing a song by ear to the class, develop skills and awareness in conducting labs that will involve preparing to sing and/or play assigned musical excerpts and leading one another to gain real-time feedback, and end the term by conducting one of the Reed College choirs in a public lab setting.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): Music 205 and 210
Instructional Method: Lecture-conference-studio
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).