Last summer Sinamar Respicio attended a virtual choral conductor intensive workshop at Rider University, thanks to support from the College of Fine Arts’ Medici Circle donors.
Sinamar is a three-year DMA student in choral conducting with a minor in orchestral conducting at the Fred Fox School of Music.
The five-day workshop is meant to further develop skills needed to be an effective conductor. There were daily sessions on expressive conducting vocabulary, intensive work on developing an understanding of the principles of Laban, which is a method of experiencing, interpreting, and notating all aspects of human movement. It allows conductors to understand how they move, identify their ‘movement signatures,” and offer them a wider palette of choices for expressivity.
Learn more about the Medici Circle program.
Medici Mondays: Sinamar Respicio
Body Mapping and the Alexander Technique were emphasized as ways to conquer performance anxiety, and to better control gestures during rehearsal and performances.
Each class was carefully sequenced, the result of 25 years of conducting pedagogy research and practice pioneered by Dr. James Jordan, a pre-eminent, Grammy-nominated conductor, considered an innovative ‘visionary’ in choral music.
“This intensive allowed me to focus on the basics of conducting gestures, but also to have a philosophical perspective of conducting. The conductors’ job isn’t keeping tempo but serving singers, guiding them to project the most beautiful sound.
“My sincere gratitude goes out to Catherine Kelly and Dennis Grether, the generous donors who made this project possible, and to all of the donors from the Medici Scholars program who helped students realize their projects and ambitions this summer.”
Thanks to donations made by the generous Medici Circle members, talented, artist scholars like Sinamar are awarded $1,000 to pursue an educational summer project beyond the classroom.
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>> Medici Mondays: Sinamar Respicio (02.28.22)