Choral conducting education: The lifelong entanglement of competence, identity and meaning

Abstract

Choral singing is one of the most widespread musical activities, and choral conductors work in a variety of social settings that involve every imaginable type of choir and musical genre. The conductor role draws on a number of skills and competencies that are partly acquired through education but, equally importantly, through experience. Choral conductors shape their practice in highly individual fashions as amalgamations of background, formal education, career development and working situation. The present qualitative study seeks to uncover how choral conductor practices arise and unfold, by using Etienne Wenger’s theory of communities of practice and situated learning as the key analytical framework. The study elucidates the choral conducting practice as an ongoing educational project and theorises the dimensions of variety in choral conductors’ trajectories. The study situates the conducting practice in a Western choral tradition, based on interviews with a diverse sample of 20 conductors in Norway. The theoretical framework proved to be highly appropriate; however, applying it to the choral conducting practice requires the explicit positioning with regard to the academic debates on the theory’s development following Wenger’s original conceptualisation. The study therefore contributes to knowledge development in three ways – (1) by shedding new light on the theory, (2) by proposing a sub-structure to the main theory for its application to choral conducting and (3) by tracing some initial implications for choral conducting education. One of the key findings is that a conductor’s background continues to impact competence and identity throughout a conductor’s work-life, while practice seems to be predominant over formal education.

The Discursive Terms of Music/Teacher Education at Four Higher Educational Institutions

“…B) «Kompetansestudie»: Kvantitativ spørreundersøkelse hvor 685 norske, svenske og tyske kordirigenter deltok (Jansson, Elstad & Døving, 2019a;Jansson, Elstad & Døving, 2019b). C) «Karrierestudie»: Intervjustudie av tjue norske kordirigenter (Jansson & Balsnes, 2020).…”

The gesture enigma: Reconciling the prominence and insignificance of choral conductor gestures

“…Interviews with 20 conductors about their professional trajectories and competence development. The results have been analyzed within a social learning framework and reported elsewhere (Jansson & Balsnes, 2020a). This study takes a renewed look at these data with specific attention to gestural skills (Step 2).…”

The construction of leadership practice: Making sense of leader competencies

“…Berg et al (2010), one of the few to have discussed sensemaking in the context of professions, point at how occupation and identity are inseparable for professions of calling, of which choral conducting is a prime example. They propose that people with additional callings are somewhat protected from dissatisfaction, which is what choral leaders achieve when making sense of a portfolio of ensembles or when combining conducting with other assignments (Jansson and Balsnes, 2020).…”