CHORAL CONNECT 2012 - INAUGURAL CONVENTION

The NZCF Association of Choral Directors’ Inaugural Convention, Choral Connect, will be held from 11 to 15 July 2012 at Wellington College, Wellington. Choral Connect is for all choral directors, whether beginners or experienced, and will be hosted by the NZCF Association of Choral Directors (ACD). If you conduct a children's, secondary students', youth, community, chamber, church choir or specialist vocal group, then this convention is for you!

Download the CONVENTION BROCHURE (2 Mb)

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Starting with a welcome dinner on the evening of Wednesday 11 July, the convention will be held over three-and-a-half days, ending at lunchtime on Sunday 15 July. All sessions will be at Wellington College, situated next to Government House and across the road from the Basin Reserve. The school’s beautiful, secluded grounds are ideal for relaxing in and are close to Wellington’s cafés, CBD and waterfront.

Convention highlights include:

• Daily sessions on aspects of choral directing, including rehearsal techniques and conducting gestures
• Course options include: vocal skills, children’s choirs, conducting choral/orchestral works, accompanying, performance practice, barbershop, popular styles, world music and using the International Phonetic Alphabet
• Masterclass with the University of Southern California Chamber Singers,by Jo-Michael Scheibe
• Connect! - facilitated sessions for conductors to network and share solutions to common problems
• Concerts by the University of Southern California Chamber Singers and Wellington Young Voices children’s choir
• Papers on areas of special interest presented by delegates

Why you should come:

• Connect and share with other conductors.
• Enhance your skills as a choir director.
• Develop your vocabulary of conducting gestures.
• Be inspired by outstanding musicians.
• Increase your knowledge of choral repertoire.
• Contribute to and benefit from the NZCF ACD.

More information
Contact Rosemary Russell telephone 021 115 6840. Send an email to Rosemary to receive regular updates about the Convention.

Wellington College

Giving Direction - professional development for choral leaders
 

Giving Direction 2011 workshops

Catering for conductors at all stages of their development, Giving Direction workshops were held in Auckland (Karen Grylls), Christchurch (Andrew Withington), Hamilton (Guy Jansen), Hastings (David Squire), Wanganui (Peter Watts), Dunedin (John Rosser) and Wellington (Christine Argyle) between July and November 2011. The final workshop was held in March 2012 in Dunedin, and was run by John Rosser.

While the mentors brought their personal approaches to the day’s activities, each of the approximately 90 choral directors at the six workshops throughout the country was allocated time to conduct a guest choir and received constructive feedback from the mentor.  For some, it was a challenging and, in some cases, terrifying experience, but all came away filled with fresh enthusiasm, having learned new conducting skills.

Apart from tuition in choral conducting and discussion forums, the delegates also enjoyed talking informally to their conducting colleagues (many of whom they had never met before) about common issues related to conducting and running a choir. Many conductors also took the opportunity to receive personal coaching with the mentor after the workshop.  NZCF wishes to thank the mentors and also the regional coordinators – Olive Leddy (Auckland), Heather Mace (Christchurch), Sean Kelly (Hamilton), Joe Christensen (Hastings), Roy Tankersley (Wanganui) and Annette Goldsmith/Elizabeth Crayford (Wellington) – for their organisation of what were deemed to be very worthwhile workshops.

Delegates were asked to mention one or two key things they learned at the workshop?

• The conductor has an obligation to convey the message to the singers clearly.
• Trust the choir.
• A small change in gesture can make a big difference – less is usually more.
• Use hand-gestures to improve intonation.
• Breathe with the choir at the beginning of phrases.
• Always model your posture on what you expect from your choir.
• If something goes wrong in a performance, most of the time it is the fault of the choir director!

• Trouble-shooting general choral problems eg recruitment, starting an auditioned choir.
• The importance of effective gesture.
• The impact of voice matching.
• How to be more free with movement, or be more still, when conducting.
• How to choose and teach repertoire.

• Make videos of the individual conducting sessions for personal review.
• More formal lecturing on conducting gestures.
• Have a greater variety of speakers at the workshops.
• Split the group into advanced and beginner conductors to maximise efficiency.
• Provide hand-outs with conducting tips, including some suggested warm-ups.
• Perhaps see more of the tutor working with the guest choirs.

• Run more workshops that involve ‘doing it’, as practical experience is the best way to learn.
• Hold these types of courses on a more regular basis, and also in the smaller centres.
• Arrange visits by mentors to a choir rehearsal to give ‘on the spot’ coaching.
• Provide a DVD library of good conducting examples/seminars.
• Give access to resources, such as websites articles/e-news/teaching materials.
• Provide continued training and mentoring of the directors of member choirs on a more ongoing basis – perhaps via a series of evening classes.

 
Membership of ACD and/or NZCF
ACD and NZCF Individual members are entitled to a substantial discount on registration fees at all ACD/NZCF events, concert ticket discounts plus many other benefits. For more information about joining, email the membership secretary Colleen Elliott colleen.elliott@nzcf.org.nz or join online.