ECE Conducting course
20 – 28 July 2019

Now in its fourth year, the English Choral Experience (ECE) Conducting Course allows choral conductors the opportunity to enhance their skills and develop how they work with singers.

Up to 10 emerging conductors – including two Advanced Conductors, comprising an SATB consort called ECE Scholars – will have the opportunity to work with conductor Paul Spicer in the idyllic surroundings of Abbey Dore (built 1147), Herefordshire. Each participant will receive generous ‘podium’ time, performance experience, and tuition from Paul and other tutors in a collaborative workshop environment. Conductors will:

• participate in rehearsals with a renowned choral conductor, learning from his approach by experiencing it in a large choir.
• expand their gestural vocabulary, using an approach informed by vocal technique and expression.
• refine their skills preparing and interpreting scores to allow them to better work with singers.
• learn strategies for rehearsing singers effectively.
• explore neglected repertoire, to broaden what they present to their ensembles.
• encounter a variety of approaches and situations, requiring them to problem-solve and adapt quickly and creatively.

The course is an intense week, and participants will be immersed in both conducting activity and singing! While you should come prepared to work full days, the course has a strongly supportive, encouraging atmosphere.

• The ECE Scholars’ Choir, an SATB ensemble comprised of, and conducted by, the conducting scholars, will perform their own concert on Friday evening.
• The Consort, which all Scholars will conduct and sing in, supplies music for two compline services and a Sunday Eucharist in Abbey Dore.
• Scholars will sing in the main ECE Choir, conducted by Paul Spicer. The Advanced Conductors will each conduct a piece with the main choir in performance.

• Pre-course Skype sessions with course director Daniel Galbreath (choral conducting tutor, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire) and co-ordinator Darrel Chan, discussing score preparations and rehearsal strategies.
• Masterclasses and private tuition with Paul Spicer throughout the week.
• Conducting tuition from Sarah Tenant-Flowers, Lecturer in Choral Conducting at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. A conductor, choral animateur, and adjudicator who co-founder of the Association of British Choral Directors, Sarah previously acted as general manager of The Sixteen, and featured as conducting mentor in BBC2’s popular TV series Maestro (2008). She is also Advanced Conducting Tutor for Sing for Pleasure and Conducting Tutor for the Association of British Choral Directors (abcd).
• One-to-one vocal tuition with Ghislaine Morgan, founder/director of the Sintra International Singing and Choral Conducting Course in Portugal and director of the Casole International Renaissance Polyphony School in Siena, Italy.
• An enjoyable week in a supportive, collaborative atmosphere. In addition to workshop rehearsals, scholars also have the opportunity to get to know each other socially through meals and during a free afternoon on Wednesday, and interact with the larger body of course attendees.
• Please see the Timetable for more details on events and features

Financial aid

In 2017, a total of £2,240 in scholarships and bursaries were awarded; in 2018, the amount was £2,550. While these figures will vary from year to year, a priority of the course is to work to prevent financial hardship from prohibiting a promising participant.

Important Dates

• Applications open from Monday 1 November 2018.
• We will accept applicants on a rolling basis until 31 May 2019. The conductors must form a small SATB choir, so places are limited by voice part. If your voice part has been filled, you will be waitlisted. Scholarships will also be given on a rolling basis, so please apply early.
• We will aim to notify you of acceptance within a week of your application, when we will discuss when payment should be made.
• Scores will be sent out upon receipt of payment.
• Late applications may still be considered on a discretionary basis.

Fees

Main Course Fee (including lunch and dinners): £420
Accommodation: £240 (£30/night)
ECE Conducting Course scores: £10.85

Salamone Rossi, Selections from Hymns & Canticles
Aaron Copland, Four Motets, I
Aaron Copland, Four Motets, IV
Leonard Bernstein, Almighty Father from Mass
Paul Schoenfield, Psalm 86 from Four Motets
Ernest Bloch, Silent Devotion from Avodath Hakodesh
Ya'akov Sagi , Sheva Tru'ot
Nurit Hirsch, arr. Arie Levanon, Ose Shalom

Additionally, you will require the music being rehearsed and performed by participants in the Abbey Dore Week course.

Eric Whitacre, Sainte Chapelle – £3.00
Eric Wetherell, Two Sonnets
– How like a winter
– Let me not – £3.00
Eric Wetherell, Longing – £2.00
Benjamin Britten, Festival Te Deum – £7.50
Gerald Finzi, Welcome sweet and sacred feast – £5.50
Vaughan Williams, Serenade to Music – £10.50
George Dyson, Agincourt – £10.50
Course booklet, – £3.50
Lennox Berkeley, Missa Brevis – £4.50
Consort booklet, – £2.00
Compline booklet, – £2.00
Consort
Lennox Berkeley, Missa Brevis – £4.50
Consort booklet, – £2.00
Compline booklet, – £2.00

Application

Your application should consist of these four items:

1. 1. A completed online application form (please note we will only accept applications completed through the website).
2. A link to a YouTube video of 5 to 7 minutes’ length, which shows both your conducting ability and some singing. We must be able to see you in the video, and must hear you sing at least a phrase of music.