The purpose of this study was to examine inservice band directors’ perceptions of their undergraduate instrumental conducting curricula. Members ( N = 141) of the Facebook Band Directors Group who had completed undergraduate conducting and rehearsal techniques coursework responded to an online survey. Respondents felt more confident demonstrating technical conducting behaviors versus expressive ones, perceived their instruction in conducting skills superior to their rehearsal skill instruction, and desired additional conducting and rehearsal experiences that were more representative of what they encountered once they began teaching. Respondents’ most desired curricular change was for additional instruction in rehearsal planning, error detection and correction, and instrument-specific pedagogy. The three most frequently used score study behaviors were “initial, casual read-through of the score,” “define all unfamiliar terms,” and “marking important cues.” Based on our findings, we discuss ways in which music teacher educators can improve their instrumental conducting courses.
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.
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