Klarinet Archive - Posting 000353.txt from 1998/12

From: "Carl Schexnayder" <carlsche@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Thoughts About College Auditions
Date: Mon, 7 Dec 1998 01:31:51 -0500

Hi Chris,

As a conductor, you really need the skills you would develop in all of those
degree programs; those you would gain as a performance major, as a music
education major, (at least the basics of how to play each of the
instruments, but also their idiosyncrasies as far as pitch tendencies of the
various pitches, range, tonal characteristics, idiomatic perfromance
practices, etc.). Skills you would gain as a Music Theory major would be
important. You would certainly need to understand harmonies, melodies and
other elements of music. You would need to be well versed in orchestration,
to be familiar with all of the clefs, be able to do instant transpositions,
and be adept at score reading. You will need training in piano and need to
develop sight-singing and dictation skills.

So I don't know if the actual degree program you pick would make that much
difference, but whatever you didn't learn as a part of that degree program,
you would need to get from elective courses or pick up on your own. It
would be best to start trying to pick up as much as possible as soon as
possible. Ask your band director if he can steer you in the right direction
or if he knows someone who could.

Good Luck,
Carl Schexnayder
Chris Hoffman Wrote:

>Hi everyone!
>After quite a bit of time "lurking" (I've been EXTREMELY busy - and that's
>putting it mildly!!!), I have two questions regarding college
>auditions/majors.
>The first one deals with majors. As I've said before, my career choice is
to
>become a symphony maestro. I want to go all the way and get my Ph.D and
>obviously conductiong is the major to go for. However, it is only offered
as
>a Master's degree on up at the colleges I'm interested in. What would be a
>more ideal bachelor's degree major, in your opinions, to start with?
>Performance, Theory, Education? I highly doubt Education because I was
told
>it was more for teaching school, which I have no real desire to do. Or
could
>I take a non-music major and then take some music classes and ensembles,
and
>then do my Master's in Conducting?
>Second quesion: If I have a music major (say if Performance was the the way
to
>go), when I audition for scholarships, etc., do I need to stick to one
>instrument, or can I do several (I just made All-State Chorus, so I was
>wondering if I could use that to help me get scholarships.)?
>Thanks for your opinions!
>Chris Hoffman
>

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