Graduate School in Conducting for a Student at a School with No Conducting Opportunities

College Majors Music Major
1

Hey all!

I feel the post title is pretty clear. I have decided that I want to pursue conducting in graduate school and as a career. Most programs, however, require prescreening videos of rehearsing and performing with an ensemble.
Those opportunities are not at my school, which offers a decent opportunity for those studying vocal or instrumental performance, composition, or the more academic sides of music.
What can I do or what have others done in the past? My school’s only foray into conducting for undergraduates is a single conducting class that is an elective for music majors.
I still have two years to go, here (maybe one and a half for applications) and I am confident in my foreign language abilities, primary instrument abilities, and in both score analysis and score identification. I just do not know where to look for any practical experience beyond the one class that I will be taking next fall.

I look forward to hearing your or someone you know’s past experiences. I could really use some guidance on this.

2

There are summer conducting programs you can attend - I know Bard offers one. http://www.bard.edu/conservatory/ci/programs/ You can also start your own ensemble and begin conducting immediately to build up your skills and resume. You could also see if you can get private conducting lessons.

3

See if you can take the class that is offered. Go talk to the prfessor who teaches it for ideas. See if you can team up with a local group to study and get some practice with them.