The New Modern Conductor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gibson, Mark.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (393 pages)

Edition:

8th ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2026.

Summary:

Building on the first seven editions of the classic conducting text The Modern Conductor, The New Modern Conductor features an exciting new approach to learning how to conduct all kinds of music, beginning not with beating but with music, not with gesture but with score study and stylistic understanding. It is written in two parts with chapters devoted to technical skills, both conducting and musical, interspersed with "Score Study" chapters--score analyses that help the reader to understand and conduct the composer's music--accompanied by video links to demonstrations of conducting techniques.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of Contents

List of Musical Examples

List of Illustrations

Foreword to The New Modern Conductor, 8th Edition: The Community of Sound

Preface: How to Iron a Shirt

For Teachers

THE NEW MODERN CONDUCTOR

The Nature of Conducting

Credo

Acknowledgments

Introduction

About the Companion Website

1 THE ABC'S of CRAFT

Basic Premises

Premise I-Craft

Premise II-Musical Literacy

Craft: Establishing Pulse (Basic Time-Beating)

Conventions of Gesture

The Four Parts of a Beat

Impulse

Up-/Prep Beat

Downbeat

Rebound

Pulse Maintenance

2 SCORE STUDY: How to Look at a Score

3 SCORE STUDY: How to Study a Score

The Sword

Learning the Notes, Learning the Music

The Steps of Score Study-A Baker's Dozen

The Shield

Tempo and Traditions

Using Recordings in Score Study

Performance Practice and Tradition

History, Art, and Culture

4 DEFINING METER, ESTABLISHING TEMPO, AND TRAVELING

Practice

Traveling Horizontally

Traveling Through the Orchestra

Offbeat Entrances

Active and Neutral Beats

Pulse Exercises

Establishing Basic Pulse

Changing Tempo-Slowing Down

Changing Tempo-Speeding Up

Common Physical Problems While Conducting

5 SCORE STUDY IN 1: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)-Waltz, II From Swan Lake Suite, Op. 20a (1876)

Valse

Waltz-Rehearsal No. 6

Rehearsal 7

Rehearsal 8-Role Reversal

Rehearsal 10-12

Rehearsal 12-15

Rehearsal 13: A Cornet Solo!

Rehearsal 15 to 17

Rehearsal 18 to 20

Rehearsal 20 to the End

Summary

6 MORE ON CHANGING TEMPO

Controlling Tempo Through Subdivision

Transitioning From Smaller to Larger Metric Units

Faster to Slower

Another Example of Accelerando Into Doppio Movimento

Other Passages for Study.

Accelerando/Speeding Up

Slowing Down/Ritardando, Rallentando

Sudden Slowing Down and Speeding Up

7 THE BATON

Ease With the Baton

Visibility of the Baton

Baton Review

8 SCORE STUDY IN 2: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)-Overture to Le Nozze Di Figaro, K. 492 (1786)

Opening A Section: Bars 1-84

Bars 1-34

Bars 35-58: Episode/Transition

Bars 59-84

Bars 85-138 (53 Bars): B Section

Bars 85-107

Bars 139-236 (97 Bars): Return of A Section

Bars 236 to 294 (68 Bars): Coda

Conducting the Overture to Figaro

Drift and 2-Beat Prep

9 DEFINING METER: 6's, 8's, 9's, 12's

and : 3x2, Or 2x3?

and Meters

And More . . . Subdivided

10 DEFINING METER: 5's, 7's, and Mixed Meters

5 and 7 Meters

Conclusion

11 SCORE STUDY IN 3: Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)-Menuet, From Le Tombeau De Couperin (1914-1917, Orch. 1919)

Allegro Moderato, ♩ = 120 129 Bars

Rehearsal 1 to 4

Rehearsal 4 to 9

Rehearsal 9 to 10

Rehearsal 10 to 14

Rehearsal 14 to Coda

A Word On String Harmonics

12 CLEFS, TRANSPOSITIONS, AND SCORE READING

How to Use This Guide

Solfège: What Is It and Why Do We Use It?

Dandelot

Reinforce Clef Reading at the Piano

Relationship Between Clef and Transposed Instruments: Key Signatures and Accidentals

Score Excerpts

Concepts for Greater Facility

13 WAIT A MOMENT! THE FERMATA

Executing Fermatas

Cutting Off the Fermata

Sustained Forte Fermatas

Beyond Beethoven-A Few More Important Fermatas

Some Difficult Fermatas

The Rebeaten Fermata

More Fermatas!

To Cut Off, Or Not to Cut Off?

The Final Word?

The Final Word!

14 SCORE STUDY IN 4: Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901)-Act 1 Prelude to La Traviata (1853)

Nº 1. Preludio: Adagio, ♩ = 66

Bars 17 to 29

Bars 36 to 49

Conducting Issues

15 DEVELOPING THE LEFT HAND.

Building Independent Movement in the Hands

Left Hand Placement

What Are the Functions of the Left Hand?

Cueing and Signaling

Offbeat Entrances and Signals

When Are Cues Or Signals Given?

Other Methods for Cueing/Signaling

Showing Dynamics

Subito Dynamics

Shaping Phrases

Upbeats-A Great Use for the Left Hand!

East Asian Dance and Hand Position

An Alternative Strategy?

Exercises for the Left Hand

The Danger of Over-Signaling

Scores for Practicing Entrances and Phrasing

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, 1st Movement, Bars 25-30

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6, 3rd Movement, Bars 87-160

Georges Bizet: Symphony in C, 2nd Movement

Carl Maria Von Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz

Giuseppe Verdi: Overture to La Forza Del Destino

16 PHRASING AND INTERPRETATION

Showing the Phrase: Schumann Symphony No. 3 in E-Flat Major, 2nd Movement

Active Listening and Letting Go of Pattern

Back to Schumann

The Next Step

Score Study Leads to Interpretive Choices, Which Lead to Expanded Handcraft

Going in Circles

Using Circles Within a Beat Pattern

Rules Are Meant to Be Broken: The Piece of String

The Lead With the Tip of the Baton Rule

The No Smiling Rule

The Canvas of Conducting

Rules About How and Where to Move On the Podium

17 SCORE STUDY IN 6: Franz Schubert (1797-1828)- Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, D. 485 (1816)

Andante Con Moto (141 Bars)

A Section, Bars 1-23

B Section, Bars 24-66

A Section, Bars 67-89

B Section, Bars 90-117

18 REHEARSAL: Working With the Ensemble

To Sit Or to Stand?

What Precisely Do We Rehearse?

First Reading/Rehearsal

Rehearsing Intonation

Rehearsing Articulation

Rehearsing Rhythm

Rehearsing Tone Color/Timbre

Four Kinds of Conducting

"Reading" Conducting

"Rehearsal/Listening" Conducting.

"Performance" Conducting

"Teaching" Conducting

Beating Is Rarely the Solution

A Final Word About Rehearsal

19 THE CONDUCTOR AS COLLABORATOR: Concerto, Opera, Ballet/Dance, Musical Theater

Conducting Concertos

Learn the Solo Part

Who Follows Whom?

Conducting Opera

What Is Opera?

What Do You Need to Know to Conduct Opera?

Learning the Text

Learning the Music

Learning Repertoire

The Rehearsal Process

Working With Singers

Technical Differences Between Stage and Pit Conducting

Ballet/Dance

Musical Theater/Broadway

In Conclusion

20 HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Works of Louise Farrenc and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Louise Farrenc (1804-1875)

Movement 1: Adagio ♩ = 63

Allegro . = 69 (552 Bars)

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)

ERRATA LIST: Coleridge-Taylor Violin Concerto Orchestra Score

1st Movement-Allegro Maestoso, ♩ = 84

2nd Movement-Andante Semplice, ♪ = 96

3rd Movement-Allegro Molto, . = 108

21 SCORE STUDY: A First Look at Beethoven Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21

1st Movement: Adagio Molto, ♪ = 88

Allegro Con Brio, = 112

Bar 4

Bars 5-7

Bars 8-12

Transition to Allegro Con Brio

Some Details in the First Bars of the Allegro

2nd Movement: Andante Cantabile Con Moto, ♪ = 120

3rd Movement: Menuetto, Allegro Molto E Vivace, . = 108

Minuet

Trio

4th Movement: Adagio, ♪ = 63

Allegro Molto E Vivace, = 88

Links to Scores of Other Beethoven Symphonies

22 WIND ENSEMBLE CONDUCTING AND REPERTOIRE

What Does a Wind Band Consist Of?

G. Verdi-Aida (1871), Act 2, Scene 2, Triumphal Scene: Offstage Banda

Gustav Holst (1874-1934)-2nd Suite for Military Band in F Major (1911)

Paul Hindemith-Symphony in B-Flat (1951)

Percy Grainger-Lincolnshire Posy (1937)

Karel Husa-Music for Prague 1968 (1968).

Joseph Schwantner- . . . and the Mountains Rising Nowhere (1977)

Works for Wind Groups By Orchestral Composers

Wind Ensemble and Orchestra: Comparisons and Contrasts

Contrast of Basic Sound

Pedagogical Aims

What's Next?-21st Century, Contemporary, and Non-Tonal Scores

Viet Cuong (B. 1990)-Deciduous (2023)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

23 CHORAL CONDUCTING

Technical Differences Between Choral and Instrumental Conducting

Breathing

More ABC's-Attacks, Beats, and Cutoffs

Pitch and Blend

Rehearsal Energy

Exercises for Practice: Beginning Reading Choral Scores

Choral Style

Contrasts: Choral and Instrumental

Preparing for Rehearsal

Conducting Works for Chorus and Orchestra

Taking Apart a Choral Score

Joel Thompson-"America Will Be!"

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)-Gloria (1959-1960)

1st Movement, "Gloria"-69 Bars

2nd Movement, "Laudamus Te"-85 Bars

Très Vite Et Joyeux, ♩ = 124 (45 Bars)

Rehearsal 20: Très Lent Et Librement (6 Bars)

Tempo 1º, Allegro, ♩ = 124, Surtout Sans Trainer (4 Bars)

Rehearsal 22-Très Allant (30 Bars)

3rd Movement, "Domine Deus"-56 Bars

Très Lent Et Calme, ♩ = 60

4th Movement, "Domine Fili Unigenite"-39 Bars

Très Vite Et Joyeux, ♩ = 112

5th Movement, "Domine Deus, Agnus Dei"-77 Bars

Bien Lent ♩ = 54

Bars 72 to 77

Bars 65 to 71

Bars 36 to 64

36 to 41

42 to 47

48 to 54 (6 X + )

55 to 59 (All )

60 to 64 ( - - , 2 X )

13 to 35

6th Movement, "Qui Sedes Ad Dexteram Patris"-96 Bars

Working With Chorus and Orchestra

For the Orchestra Conductor

For the Choral Conductor

The First Rehearsal With Chorus, Soloist, and Orchestra

Dress Rehearsal and Performance

24 SCORE STUDY FINAL PROJECT Claude Debussy (1862-1918)- Prélude àl'après-midi d'un faune (1892- 1894).

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)-Prélude À L'après-Midi D'un Faune (1892-1894).

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Gibson, Mark The New Modern Conductor

ISBN:

9780197748565

9780197748572

9780197748589

OCLC:

1591236554