[MUSIC]. Welcome to Fundamentals of Rehearsing Music Ensembles. My name is Evan Feldman, I'm the wind ensemble director here at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I have the honor of conducting a wide variety of ensembles from. Groups with the great students here at Carolina, to advanced adult amateur groups, to true community bands, to youth bands and orchestras, to professional ensembles. Although the range of abilities is quite varied, the techniques that we applied, are remarkably similar. Over the next six weeks, we'll discuss techniques that you can use in rehearsal for a large music ensemble, really any ensemble. Although, we'll be focusing in on wind bands and their repertoire, the reality is you can use most of these techniques, with any genre, any ability, and any size group. We expect the people enrolled in the class, have a similar range of backgrounds. From abilities, to how many years you've been involved, to what kind of ensemble that you're interested in. And we think that diversity is a great thing. So for some of you, this might be a true primer in rehearsal technique and conducting. And for others, we expect it's going to be a refresher course, or perhaps a resource for new ideas. In week one, this week, we'll start with some big philosophical issues. What does a conductor do in rehearsal? What sort of skills does a conductor need? Then go to talk about one of the over arching principles of the class, the idea of macro, micro macro. Something that will weave itself through the rest of the course, and then move on to a primer with some, into some basic conducting technique. Subsequent weeks we'll follow a similar form. We'll start with discussing a musical issue, move on to a demonstration of specific rehearsal strategies, organized by topic, and then move on to a step by step breakdown of relevant conducting topics. Assessment is tricky in this kind of class. Because it's skill-based. It's performance that we're trying to assess. Most of the weeks are going to have a multiple choice test. That is really just meant as a review of key topics. The most powerful kind of assessment we have takes place in week four. And that's when we'll ask you to upload a video of yourself conducting. And that video will be assessed by peers, by other people in the class, and then you in turn will have a chance to assess the work of other people in the class. Now, don't worry, if you don't conduct an ensemble, that's okay. You can still complete the class. There's a multiple choice test for that week that you can do. Ensemble music making is collaborative by it's very nature, and we think the way you learn it, should also be collaborative. In, in other words, we think you can learn as much from the other people enrolled in the class, as you can from the content that we have posted, and that's the point of the discussion boards. And, we're going to have several of them on different topics, and we ask that each week. You submit something, you post a question, a response, or both, or more. And on a variety of topics that we'll have available. So, for example, on the rhythm board, you might ask, does anyone have any good techniques for teaching dotted eight-sixteenths? Or, my church choir tends to drag a lot, any strategies for improving that? On the repertoire board, you might post, I'm looking for a really good, easy swing band piece for a young jazz band. Or my community orchestra is trying to play some baroque music. Any great suggestions for that? Or on the Musicianship, Phrasing, and Style board, you might say, well, my, my young band is having trouble getting a jazz-swing style. Any strategies for filling the that? Or, I really want to get good vitality in the articulation that we get, in our orchestra, any good suggestions for that? Really, the possibilities are endless, as long as you respect the topic of the discussion board, and of course, respect your peers. We're really excited to teach this class, and we hope that you have a great experience, musically and otherwise. And now, on to week one.
