{"id":58695,"date":"2024-04-16T10:36:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-16T14:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/?p=58695"},"modified":"2024-04-16T10:37:00","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T14:37:00","slug":"unlock-your-musical-potential-inside-the-success-of-utc-musics-summer-intensive-conducting-workshops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/2024\/04\/unlock-your-musical-potential-inside-the-success-of-utc-musics-summer-intensive-conducting-workshops\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlock your musical potential: Inside the success of UTC Music\u2019s summer intensive conducting workshops"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Choral

Choral and Instrumental Summer Institutes are returning to the UTC campus to provide participants with opportunities to advance their careers in music education. The workshops are especially helpful to K-12 music educators who seek professional development. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

Last summer, four internationally recognized conductors came to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to share their expertise as part of the Summer Pedagogy and Conducting Institutes.<\/p>\n

Thanks to that successful launch, the institutes are returning<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

As part of a redesigned Master of Music in Music Education<\/strong><\/a> program, choral and instrumental institutes were brought to the UTC campus to provide participants with opportunities to advance their careers in music education.<\/p>\n

The workshops are especially helpful to K-12 music educators who seek professional development, explained College of Arts and Sciences Dean Pam Riggs-Gelasco.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe workshops are designed to serve both enrolled graduate students in the Music Education program and<\/em> practicing K-12 teachers,\u201d Riggs-Gelasco said.<\/p>\n

A benefit to the workshops, she said, is that you don\u2019t have to directly participate as a conducting fellow to be involved in the experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can pay to participate as a conducting fellow so that you are getting in front of a performing group and conducting with mentorship from the clinicians,\u201d she said, \u201cor you can audit and play or sing in the ensemble. As an auditor, you\u2019re learning about conducting through watching other people learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Kenyon Wilson, head of the Department of Music and professor of applied tuba, explained that last summer, some students who did not participate for credit included high school seniors who had enrolled at UTC.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of them said, \u2018I never thought my band director went through all this in order to improve themselves,\u2019\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n

He emphasized the pedagogy aspect of the institutes, explaining that participants are in a classroom with the instructors just as much as they are in the band room.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re bringing rockstar pedagogues to campus,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not conducting a band anymore in my position, but being in the band, I\u2019m watching my colleagues or former students of mine up there just being transformed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Associate Professor Alison Allerton played a significant role in redesigning the master\u2019s program<\/strong><\/a> into its current format and structure. She described the Pedagogy and Conducting Institutes as the highlight of the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cEach week, we bring in a new, internationally recognized practitioner to be a guest instructor,\u201d Allerton said, \u201cso our students are able to learn from some of the biggest names in conducting and music education without leaving Chattanooga.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the institutes run all day, with morning sessions devoted to special topics and afternoon sessions to \u201cmaking music together\u201d and receiving feedback on conducting and rehearsal techniques.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an amazing opportunity to refresh and recharge\u2014to connect and socialize with colleagues while receiving inspiration along with new tricks and tips for the classroom,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

This summer, the institutes run the weeks of June 10-14 and June 17-21.<\/p>\n