Teaching conducting for ABCD, Winchester, 2016
ConductING
I am the Director of Training for the Association of British Choral Directors and continue to be a regular tutor on all levels of their national courses. I teach conducting at the request of Schools, Music Hubs, Universities, other music organisations, and from home. During Covid I established an online Choral Conducting Course: Choral Leadership and Pedagogy (CLP), which has seen numerous choral leaders from all over the world join together to improve their conducting skills. See here for more information.
I always place the students’ needs at the centre of my teaching and strive to encourage, inspire, motivate and challenge students in a friendly, safe and non-judgemental manner. I have successfully led numerous abcd training courses for young people and adults over the last fifteen years. I fervently believe in addressing all areas of choral leadership, from aural training and vocal skills, rehearsal techniques and gesture, choosing appropriate repertoire and preparing scores, through to working with committees, and surviving auditions and interviews! I am able to do this with reference to industry knowledge, encouragement and advocacy, thoughtful advice, gentle guidance and good humour.
“The students were being encouraged, cajoled, enthused and enlightened by someone in whom I immediately recognised the rare talent of an instinctive and gifted teacher. Amy seemed to have that priceless ability to inculcate in her charges a feeling that they can do it. I had gone along mainly to observe the students but found myself captivated by Amy’s combination of inspirational motivation and thorough professionalism”
I have led conductor training for Master’s students at The Royal Academy of Music; Queen's College, Cambridge, Choral Scholar's Programme; The Royal College of Organists, the Halle Youth Choir, Sing Ireland, The Sherborne International Summer Schools, Surrey Arts, the ISM and the Military Wives’ Association. I have mentored Directors with Amabile Girls’ Choir (Kendal), Soundbytes Choir (Ashtead), Surrey Hills Chamber Choir and Guildford Barbershop Chorus. I have also established my own successful Choral Conducting Masterclass series, which has taken place in Surrey, Durham and London.
For more information visit ABCD.org.uk or get in touch with me directly for private lessons, mentoring, school inset or enquiries about masterclasses.
“The workshop with Amy goes to the top of the list in terms of valuable CPD. Although I conduct many choirs, including at a national level, I have never really had any formal training and my conducting skills have developed and evolved over many years’ experience. Amy’s expert advice and calm guidance has really made me think about my conducting style and look again at my role in leading choirs. I have already started to put into practice some of the insights I gained from the workshop and am hoping to sign up to an ABCD course in the future.”
5TH ANNUAL CHORAL CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS
Harlequin Chamber Choir were the guest choir for this choral conducting masterclass, singing for conductor participants at Intermediate and Advanced level.
Repertoire included works from Multitude of Voyces’ anthology (red, Volume 1), Rutter’s Five Childhood Lyrics and Eric Whitacre’s Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine. Harlequin are an extremely competent and musically agile chamber choir, which guarantees a day of working with a very responsive and supportive ensemble, who will “sing what they see”.
4th Choral Conducting Masterclass
Saturday 23rd June, 2018, Abinger Hammer Village Hall, nr. Dorking, Surrey
A plethora of new and well-known works were on the menu for all those joined us for this Intermediate-Advanced level masterclass. Holmbury Choral Society hosted the day, which featured Cecilia McDowall's A Fancy of Folksongs, Sarah Deere-Jones' Carmina Iocunda, Holst’s folksongs and other gems. Generous podium time including discussion on body language, gesture, vocal technique and rehearsal techniques was shared throughout the day, and everyone seemed to enjoy the event, including the picnic on the green!
3rd ANNUAL CHORAL CONDUCTING MASTERCLASS
Saturday 27th May, 2017, Brancepeth Castle, Durham
This event was a huge success with positive feedback from all involved. Due to demand, a further Masterclass took place on Sunday morning to accommodate those interested in taking part. In all, 14 conductors and 5 observers worked with Holmbury Choral Society and guests in the castle ballroom. Conductors received half an hour's podium time each with the choir. Repertoire was a varied mix including works from Mendelssohn's Elijah and by Gjeilo, Faure, Durufle, Lauridsen, Runestad, Copland and Seiber.
“I’d just like to say how much I enjoyed the day. Great location, great music, much more than capable singers who love what they do, sociable company... It was great to meet you and to discover, unsurprisingly, that all I’ve read about you is true. You have a great approach to your teaching. You are enthusiastic, encouraging and gently persuasive in the way you obviously know what you want to say, what the conductor needs to engage with and how to get the best out of them. It was also obvious that you tailored your responses to each individual separately, trying to use what they already have as a basis for development rather than having a general, generic agenda.”