However, the majority of music directors, and many choir directors and music teachers conduct from the piano.
So chances are that many students who will have been taught how to conduct from the stand, will instead need to know how to conduct from the piano, but won't have been taught how.
When will schools of music catch on, and offer piano conducting classes?
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Excellent point.
ReplyDeleteAs an undergraduate, I have had to take three conducting courses. (Two basic conducting and a specifically choral conducting course.) Since I did my student teaching almost 13 years ago, I have rarely conducted away from the piano. As a music director, I can count on exactly one finger the number of times I have had an accompanist... and in the end, I STILL ended up playing the show/conducting rehearsals from the piano!
It is especially important for anyone who works as an accompanist. Whether or not you are the "leader", sooner or later people end up looking to you to keep things together. Learn the skill now before you need it...
...I suppose unlike the rest of us who ended up learning it by trial and error!
Kareem