ECE Conducting course
18 – 26 July 2020

Please note that this is advance notice only. Full details of this course and booking will become available shortly.

Now in its fifth 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.