Director College expands curriculum for 2021
Whether attending live or watching a delayed replay, you’ll build a broader skill set with 2021 Directors College
Last year’s Directors College of the Virtual Harmony University was a great success! We felt like we were making something from scratch and we were. At times it felt like we were channeling a Star Trek episode, “Zoom, the final frontier. These are voyages of the VHU Enterprise. Its one-year mission (now stretched into two): to explore strange new virtualizations; to seek out new ways to present content and new formats; to boldly go where no barbershopper has gone before.”
Though we had great success last year, we decided to build upon the foundation we laid rather than simply repeat the same design.
- One directive we are championing this year is to seek to give a similar experience to all attendees, whether they join live or view at a later date.
- We will still have sessions where attendees have the opportunity to ask questions of a panel of expert barbershop directors, but we will seek to have each session have a singular theme. Some planned themes: directing small and mid-sized choruses, directing large choruses, as well as an open forum on conducting issues/questions.
- A new session we are excited to offer this year is “Directing Under Glass.” We will watch three directors being coached by experienced directing teachers using both video and live instruction. These three directors represent choruses at varying levels and sizes. We are confident that you’ll see yourself in these directors and gain many insights to your own conducting.
Along with all these opportunities will be presentations on aspects of the conducting art.
- Tim Workman will be presenting a fine session on the technique of melding.
- Aaron Evens will be discussing rehearsal technique refinements.
- I will do a session on using established conducting patterns in musical ways and how to show internal releases seamlessly and artfully.
- We will also have a day that you will have the opportunity to conduct in a small group setting with one of our conducting faculty!
- The seminar tag will be an interview with the barbershopper’s barbershopper, Dr. Jim Henry.
One of the strengths of the Barbershop Harmony Society over the years has been how we have delivered educational resources that connect with where barbershop is now along with where barbershopping needs to go in the future. Another strength is that though we are an amateur organization, we continue to strive for excellence in all our areas of influence. The key to that excellence is our directors. Our art form will grow only as our directors grow. We have been in a quasi-stagnation state for sixteen months. Our society is ready to break out in an explosion of song. We have room for everyone who would like to be a part of that explosion. We hope that will include you!