Original Études for the Developing Conductor

Original Études for the Developing Conductor is a collection of supplemental études designed to enhance contemporary conducting pedagogy by amplifying the voices of composers from historically excluded groups. Each étude was commissioned from and composed by a living composer, the majority of whom are woman-identifying composers and/or composers of color. Each étude also addresses multiple specific pedagogical goals common to all conducting classrooms.

Conducting textbooks commonly include musical examples to expose student conductors to various musical challenges and situations. However, due to the relative ease of using only music from the public domain, most examples found in commercially published books are excerpts of larger works composed by deceased cisgender white men of European descent. Often, this music bears little relation to a significant portion of the music contemporary students engage with and perform. These excerpts also tend to be quite short (i.e., less than a minute) and do not create cohesive, self-contained musical arcs.

Please visit http://hdl.handle.net/10919/112744 for more information and associated resources.