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  2007 International Wind Festival     Upcoming Events      Past Events      Concert Calendar       

Basbwe is committed to providing opportunities for conductors involved in wind music to further their skills. A key aspect of this is the Basbwe / Canford conducting course which has been running since 1991. Read on for information about the 2008 course, or click here for some history and a review of 2007.

BASBWE Wind Band Conductor's Course &
Symphonic Wind Orchestra
Canford Summer School of Music
3rd to 10th August 2008
Timothy Reynish, Mark Heron, Philip Scott

Conducting  Course
The course is for wind band conductors at the intermediate and advanced levels. Up to twenty-five students will be accepted as "active" participants working from two repertoire lists. Lists A and B are for the experienced student whilst list B is for the less experienced student. Observers are also encouraged and will be fully involved in general technique sessions, discussions and playing in the class ensemble, but they will only conduct at the discretion of the tutors.

The class will explore conducting techniques, score preparation, rehearsal and training skills. A CD and score library will be available for reference and special emphasis will be placed on extending the knowledge of repertoire at all levels. A DVD recorder will be used to analyse technical requirements and development and all participants will have the opportunity to continually review their work during the course, and to take away a DVD at the end of the week. The course will run concurrently with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra and there will be close liaison between the two. All participants should bring with them any instruments they play, in order to accommodate ensemble work within the class. (If for any reason you unable to bring your instrument(s), please let the summer school office know when you enrol.)

Students are required to prepare their chosen repertoire thoroughly before commencement of the course. All students are asked to prepare the Kozhevnikov to conduct in the first session.

List A    
Hesketh Danceries Faber
Schoenberg Theme & Variations Schirmer
Maw American Games Faber
Binney Four Character Sketches Maecenas
Vaughan Williams Toccata Marziale Boosey
List B    
Gorb Candlelight Procession R Smith
Mozart Serenade in C minor, K388 Barenreiter
Kozhevnikov Symphony No.3 Wingert Jones
Roxburgh Aeolian Carillons Maecenas
Schuller Nature's Way Boosey
Jackson Passacaglia Maecenas

Obtaining Scores
Links have been provided to the publishers, many of whom have efficient online ordering systems. Just Music is a sheet music retailer specialising in wind music and should be able to obtain all of these items, even if not listed in their online catalogue. The Maecenas site does not have an online ordering facility but they deal very quickly with email and telephone orders. The Kozhevnikov is probably obtained most easily from JW Pepper - enter 2329399 as the catalog# on their site. The Schirmer site will inform you that the Schoenberg is hire only, but you can purchase it from JW Pepper, catalog# 7390669.

Preparation and Repertoire Selection
Participants are not expected to thoroughly prepare all of the repertoire, although you may if you wish. It is far better to learn 3 or 4 pieces very well than to have only a very superficial knowledge of them all. The List A/ List B division is fairly vague, and it intended simply to guide the more experienced conductors towards the more substantial works which appear in that list. Participants should, however, feel free to mix and match if they wish.

Everyone should prepare the Kozhevnikov as this will be used in the first session of the week during which everyone will conduct for a few minutes in order that a quick assessment can be made of each participant. The Mozart will be covered in a couple of chamber music sessions during the week, and it is certainly worth preparing all or some of that work.

Participants may find some of the articles on conducting, score study and rehearsal technique available in the Resources section of this site, at www.timreynish.com and at www.markheron.co.uk useful.

Course Structure
The course is essentially egalitarian. To a large extent, all participants receive equal amounts of podium time and generally most people conduct every day. Most of the sessions are with the class ensemble, which is often augmented by extra players. Some of the more advanced students will have the opportunity to work on occasions with the Symphonic Wind Orchestra. Unlike many conducting courses, this one where you will actually have the chance to conduct!

Any questions or enquiries about repertoire, preparation or the course content can be directed to Mark Heron.

All applications or other administrative enquiries must be made through the Canford Summer School website, where information about cost, location, administration can be found along with application details.
 

Symphonic Wind Orchestra
The Symphonic Wind Orchestra is designed for experienced amateurs and students to play and study significant repertoire for Wind Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. A regular feature of the course will be chamber music as well as wind ensemble playing. Some of the repertoire will be studied in depth, the remainder in repertoire sessions.

 

Sallinen

Palace Rhapsody

Roxburgh

Elegy for Ur

Sparke

Dance Movements

Binney

Master Humphrey’s Clock

Wilby

Laudibus in Sanctis

Bailey

Chasses Musicales

Roxburgh

Aeolian Carillons

Schuller

Nature’s Way

Kanchelli

Magnum Ignotum

For further information, including how to apply, please visit the Canford Summer School site.

Timothy Reynish

Timothy Reynish held principal horn positions with the Northern Sinfonia, Sadlers Wells Opera and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra before joining the Royal Northern College of Music as Tutor in Conducting and later Head of School of Wind and Percussion. He studied conducting with George Hurst, Dean Dixon, and Franco Farrara, was a prizewinner in the Mitropulos International Conducting Competition, and has conducted orchestras and wind ensembles in Canada, Scandinavia, Europe the Middle East and North and South America. Since leaving the RNCM he has worked unstintingly to raise both the performing standards and the quality of music played by wind orchestras and ensembles around the world - indeed he has commissioned a copious number of major works himself. Following a term as President of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles he currently spends much of his year commuting between America and the UK with the occasional trip to Australia!

Mark Heron

Mark Heron studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, the Royal Northern College of Music and in international masterclasses with Neeme Järvi and Jorma Panula. In 2005 he won the Neeme Järvi Conducting Competition and the following year was selected by the London Symphony Orchestra to participate in their mentoring scheme for young conductors. Mark is Music Director of the Nottingham Philharmonic Orchestra, Liverpool Mozart Orchestra, Manchester University Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Wind Orchestra of Israel. He is a member of the conducting faculty at the RNCM where he works with all of the college’s orchestras and ensembles and regularly records contemporary music with the RNCM Wind Orchestra. As a guest conductor Mark works regularly with orchestras in Finland, Estonia, Germany and Israel as well as in the UK.  Increasingly well regarded in the field of conductor training, Mark teaches at the RNCM, Manchester University, the Royal Air Force and Canford Summer School. You can find out more about his activities at www.markheron.co.uk 

Philip Scott

Phillip Scott has over the last twenty-five years established a reputation as director of several important wind programmes. In 1985 he founded the Wells Cathedral School Wind Ensemble, the first pre-conservatoire one-player-per-part group in the country, and from 1986 to 1991 he was conductor of the Avon Schools’ Symphonic Wind Band with whom he toured the Gulf States and Sultanate of Oman. He recently returned to this group, now known as the South West Youth Wind Sinfonia, as its music director and is also this year conducting the Kent Youth Wind Orchestra. Since 1993 he has been conductor of the National Youth Wind Ensemble of Great Britain. He made his BBC Proms début with this group in August 2000 and has appeared with NYWE at the biennial international conferences of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles in Jönköping, Sweden (2003) and Killarney, Ireland (2007). Their recording, with clarinettist Sarah Williamson, of the Philip Grange Clarinet Concerto, appeared on the Campion label in 2006. A British citizen for thirty-five years, Phillip was awarded a Churchill Travelling Fellowship in 1992 that enabled him to research instrumental music teaching techniques in his native United States. He was executive producer of the first training video specifically for instrumental teachers, Six of the Best, launched in May 2001 and produced by the Federation of Music Services in association with Classic FM. During the last ten years, Phillip has played a key role in the conception, design and construction of two new-build arts venues, the Wiltshire Music Centre in Bradford on Avon and the Performing Arts Centre in Lewis, East Sussex. He is currently Principal of the Blackheath Conservatoire of Music & the Arts in south east London.