GIA Publications Conducting Technique Etudes - Jordon - Book/CD

Harmonic Rhythm Rudiments and Laban Effort Rudiments

Author: James Jordan (with exercises by Blake Henson and Gerald Custer)

A companion to Evoking Sound (Second Edition) and The Conductors Gesture

Examples recorded on included CD

In this volume of etudes for conductors, James Jordan details a ground-breaking pedagogy for the development of conducting skills. This method is based on a sequential harmonic process to inform and define conducting gesture.

This book is revolutionary because it employs a process of score study to develop what Dr. Jordan calls kinesthetic/harmonic audiation. Conductors of all skill levels will profoundly benefit from these new ideas.

While instrumentalists and keyboardists for decades have had books of daily etudes for the development of technique, conducting pedagogy has not had the benefit of such a rigorous technical course of study.

This book teaches conductors to make gestural decisions based upon harmonic rhythm and uses the gestural vocabulary of Rudolf Laban as the beginning vocabulary from which a conductor can make decisions. This book of etudes differs from other approaches because it views harmonic progression as the primary vehicle by which to learn conducting technique. This volume contains:

• Harmonic Rudiment Exercises for acquisition of the Laban Efforts of Float, Wring, Press, Dab, Glide, Slash, and Punch
• Exercises that can be used in both Choral and Instrumental Classes
• A sequential and extensive series of Conducting Etudes - in all meters and articulations that ask conductors to explore changes in Harmonic Rhythm - without influencing melody
• A review of the most important parts of the conductors anatomy that are vital to expressive technique
• Etudes that teach conductors to make gestural decisions based upon an audiated and kinesthetic understanding of harmonic progression
• Specific practice suggestions