Berklee Press

Author: Bruce Hangen
Format: Softcover with Video Online
Version: Text

Learn the essential practices of contemporary conducting. This book will teach you to use the motions, cues, patterns and practices used to lead ensembles, whether for orchestra, band, musical theatre, opera, film orchestra, or other type of ensemble. You will learn techniques for keeping time, signalling musicians, and crafting your unique interpretation of the score, as well as how to command the stage presence necessary to lead a large ensemble - whether for concert performances or synching live performers to other media, such as film, recordings, musical theatre and dance.

Video demonstrations and annotated scores of orchestral excerpts from Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and others illustrate and let you practice various conducting challenges, such as cadenzas, rubato and quickly changing time signatures. Also included are interviews with some of the most accomplished conductors of our time, such as John Williams, Lalo Schifrin, JoAnn Falletta, John Morris Russell and others, providing perspective from the concert hall podium to the Broadway pit to the Hollywood sound stage.