Students’ and Teachers’ Perceptions of Undergraduate Conducting Curricula: A Review of Literature

Abstract

Conducting courses are a common component of undergraduate instrumental music education programs. The experiences students have in those courses vary across and sometimes within institutions. This variation is due to many factors including choice of instructional materials and sequences, as well as whether textbooks or other instructional approaches (e.g., Laban movement theory) are used and how classes are designed for students to practice and refine their conducting. In this review, I summarized and synthesized literature related to the structure and content of undergraduate conducting curricula, as well as students’ and teachers’ perceptions of those curricula. I also made suggestions for teaching practice and for further research, and proposed a shift in the discourse on undergraduate conducting curricula toward authentic context, pedagogy-rich coursework aimed at preparing students to successfully adopt the conductor-educator role in their future careers.

Conducting and Rehearsal Skills in Preservice Music Education: A Review of the Literature

“…Berg (2014) wrote, "Our work as instrumental and choral music teacher educators, despite our various undergraduate curriculum frameworks and particular topics addressed in our methods and conducting courses, should be to foster the development of future music educators who are conductor-educators" (p. 266). Researchers suggest that future conductor-educators learn to better collaborate with large ensembles, build relationships with students through the rehearsal process, and develop positive classroom communities (Noon, 2019), leading to transformed secondary ensemble rehearsals (Berg, 2014). It seems, however, that communicating through gesture, responding to sound, and reacting to students' performances is a complicated process that is difficult both to learn and teach (Forrester, 2018).…”

“…Conducting courses can provide opportunities for PMEs to develop their technical skills. Within undergraduate programs, they serve as key components for identifying and addressing musical competencies (Hart, 2019; Noon, 2019) and may play the most important role in helping establish PMEs’ future rehearsal success (Silvey & Major, 2014). It is possible, however, that conducting courses have been structured to emphasize technique over teaching and impede future music educators from having authentic rehearsal experiences (Hart, 2019).…”

“…Researchers commonly identify conducting skills as effective left-hand gesture, facial expression, eye contact, control points such as fermatas and releases, dynamic variation, style, tempo stability, phrasing, and demonstrable beat patterns, among others (Bergee, 1992; Hart, 2019; Kelly, 1999; Noon, 2019; Romines, 2003; Silvey et al, 2020). Even after receiving conducting instruction, some ensemble directors are unable to utilize gestures to visually convey musical ideas within a score.…”

“…Hart (2019) suggested music education and conducting faculty actively integrate conducting and pedagogy within music education conducting coursework and highlighted a potential need to redesign curricula and rethink program policy. Noon (2019) also recommended curricular changes such as conducting and methods course instructors collaborating to better connect content between conducting approach, rehearsal skills, and programming strategies. PMEs may benefit from integrating coursework, rather than learning the information as separate modules.…”

Error Detection in Music Education: A Review of Literature

“…For this review of literature, I examined research related to error detection in music education settings. I used recent studies that were similar in nature to develop a protocol for finding and selecting literature for the current project (Kilpatrick, 2020; Noon, 2019). To find studies for this review, I searched for peer-reviewed articles, doctoral dissertations, master’s theses, and book chapters using the following databases: ERIC, JSTOR, Music Index Online, APA PsycINFO, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.…”