Texas Bandmasters Association
Bandmasters Review • December 2014
14
Conducting Master Class Website
Announcing an Exciting New Resource for Band Directors
So, how would you like to hear tuba performing
artist Sam Pilafian, French Horn virtuoso J.D. Shaw
and University of New Mexico Director of Bands Eric
Rombach-Kendall discuss performance and tempo
considerations in the
Holst Suite in Eb
?
What about Allan McMurray Former Director of
Bands at the University of Colorado talking about how
to “Listening for the Heart Beat in the Music?”
Or, Frank Ticheli at the piano presenting an in-depth
interview addressing all aspects of
Fortress
which was
one of his first works for winds?
Perhaps you would be interested in a session with
Dr. Mark Spede at Clemson University talking about
“Time and the Conductor.”
How about rehearsal demonstrations on Sousa’s
The Gallant Seventh
, Ticheli’s
Cajun Folk Songs
,
Vaughan Williams’
Rhosymedre
, or Ron Nelson’s
Courtly Airs and Dances
? The list goes on and on.
Maybe a discussion of the Past, Present and Future
of Music Eduction by Frank Battisti, one of the icons of
our profession, would be more to your liking.
Does all of the above sound like a commercial
for The Midwest Clinic? After all, where else would
you find all of those artist teachers accessible and
presenting in the same place and at the same time?
In reality for decades the only resource for these
kinds of presentations remained state, regional and
national conferences. You, as a band director/music
educator, would have to invest time and money to
travel to the fountainhead of such resources and once
there frantically move from session to session to reap
the benefit of such collective knowledge. But thanks
to current technology I am pleased to tell you there
is a new resource that you can access from your band
hall or your home and at your convenience that gives
you entrée to video productions of all the above and
much, much more. At present there are a collection
of 49 such video resources with countless more in
production.
Where?
www. conduc t i ngmas t erc l ass . com
The Conducting Master Class website, launched
November 1, 2014 is an exciting collaboration between
the College Band Directors National Association and
www.banddirector.com
. The long-term objective for
this initiative is to create a bountiful resource of
concise videos created by collegiate band conductors
addressing topics of interest and educational value
to high school, middle school band director music
educators and their students. Over time it is the vision
of the College Band Directors National Association to
include ever expanding presentations on repertoire,
rehearsal strategies, instrumental pedagogy and other
topics relevant to middle school and high school band
programs.
Each video is designed to be 10 minutes or less
in length addressing a specific, concise topic. In
some cases topics of larger scope will be expanded
to accommodate content over multiple segments. In
every case it is the intention of the project to provide
valuable, meaningful information formatted so a busy
director can grab a cup of coffee, sit down, select a
video of interest and 10 minutes later possess new or
expanded relevant knowledge. Some videos addressing
specific works will have meaningful content for student
viewing as well.
You might think of this new resource as
Ted Talks
for band conductors and music educators.
How much is a subscription? Nothing. The resource
is totally free. I encourage you to go to the site and
check it out. Over time it will provide an abundant
educational resource for you and your students.
Richard Floyd