(Church) Music Program Areas of Study for Interns

Interns will choose Focus of their Studies

Choral

• Running a rehearsal, rehearsal tips
• Choral vowel production
• Choral (and w/orch) conducting technique - technique, pickup entrances, tempo changes, movement transitions, physical gestures, considerations for choir with orch
• Repertoire (protestant, gospel, world music, etc.) familiarity/planning/coordination/integration
• Care & Feeding of Volunteers
• Emergency Repairing "Train Wrecks" - conducting recovery in live performances
• Styles: Classical, Gospel, NewAge, Plainsong/chant
• Orchestra: recruiting/contracting, preparing scores, string bowings, filling in for missing instruments, transposing
• Continuo playing, score adapting, Continuo instruments: organ flute / harpsichord (separate techniques); Figured Bass
• Writing a hymn descant; writing a fanfare hymn introduction
• Rehearsal shortcut terminology - teach by example "catchphrases" like: Slo-mo (slow tempo); Single-step (one note/beat at a time); Budget (tailor a crescendo or rit across beats/measures);
• Rehearsal efficiency - keep moving, make sure people know why you stopped/what is to be corrected/refined, praise corrections but not gratuitously undeserved
• Controlling personalities in rehearsals for the good of the overall rehearsal progress
• Marking the conductor's score for performance
• Adapting and arranging accompaniments (for obbligato instruments, piano or organ, synthesizer embellishments (for instance, "harp" on top of pipe organ, or "string bass" on top of acoustic piano))
• Program publicity: compelling phrases/titles
• Program notes, promoting concerts

Organ

• Hardware/mechanisms
  • Organ building, tuning
  • The Console, The Chambers
  • MIDI, synth keyboard interfaces/possibilities
• Technique, Repertoire, Performance Practice
• Hymn Playing: Intro, Alternate Harmonizations, Interludes, Energizing Sluggish Congregation, Registration
• Improvisation (hymn-tune-based) - styles, registration, figurations/patterns, form
• Orchestral Transcriptions
• Accompanying: Choral, Vocal, Instrumental, Figured Bass, orch reductions
• Practice techniques, including debugging "why did I do that?" (so that I won't do it again)

Theory

• Harmony
• Gregorian Chant/plainsong
• Fugue
• Compositional Devices
• Composition/Arranging: Organ/Choral; Finale/etc. typesetting