Orthodox Church in America: Beginners’ on-line Choral Conducting Course

Source: Orthodox Church in America

Beginners’ on-line Choral Conducting Course

SYOSSET, NY [OCA]  The Department of Liturgical Music of the Orthodox Church in America will once again offer an on-line course, “Choral Conducting for Beginners,” beginning September 14, 2015.

“The class sessions are devoted to demonstrating basic conducting techniques, starting with elementary conducting patterns and concluding with an emphasis on conducting liturgical chant,” said Prof. David Drillock, Department Chair, who will teach the course.  “The course, which will be limited to 12 participants, will consist of 12 sessions over a 13-week period.

“The first half of the course will concentrate on the relationship between text and music, accented and non-accented syllables,” Prof. Drillock added.  “In the first six sessions the practical exercises will focus on learning the basic beat patterns, conducting within the conducting plane, various forms of cutoffs, use of the left hand, basic dynamics, and analysis of the music used in the exercises and assignments.

“The second half of the course concentrates on the techniques of conducting chant, singing in phrases, analyzing specific examples of both metered and non-metered music, and preparing music for conducting,” he concluded.

“Choral Conducting for Beginners” is an “asynchronous” on-line course, meaning that the class sessions are not fixed at a set time period.  Once the session is posted on the web site, learners can participate at a time of day that is convenient.  The class meets at no particular time, is of no specific length, and participants do not need to be on-line together at any particular time.  However, it is expected that the learner will have completed all the readings and assignments and is proficient in the conducting exercises by Thursday of the week in which each session has been posted.  The learner should plan on spending at least a half-hour to an hour per day practicing the conducting exercises assigned in each session.

Each learner will be required to meet interactively with the instructor via Skype for a 30-minute session each week.  These sessions will provide an opportunity for each individual learner to demonstrate his or her comprehension of each session and the ability to perform the conducting exercises correctly.  At these interactive meetings, the learner will receive necessary feedback from the instructor together with helpful suggestions for improvement.  Such one-on-one real time Skype sessions also will enable the instructor to provide extra help and answer specific questions.  Following each skype session, written evaluations will be provided to each participant.

Directions for submitting the course fee of $200.00, made payable to the Orthodox Church in America, DLM, are included on the registration form.

Prof. Drillock is Professor Emeritus of Liturgical Music at Saint Vladimir’s Seminary, Yonkers, NY.  Dr Mark Pearson, who designed the on-line course format, will provide technical support and program assistance.  Dr. Pearson is Instructional Technologist and Designer at Earlham College, where he manages all aspects of the college’s Moodle Learning Management System.

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