An Examination of University Conducting Faculty Members’ Score Study Attitudes and Practices

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine university conducting teachers’ attitudes about score study, the source materials they used to teach score study, their personal score study practices, and the score study approaches they taught their undergraduate conducting students. Respondents ( N = 236) were members of the College Band Directors National Association who taught undergraduate conducting courses. Our findings indicated that “developing an interpretation of how the music should be performed” was considered the most important reason to study the score, that respondents spent an average of 6 hours in score study per week, and that The Art of Conducting by Donald Hunsberger and Roy Ernst was the most frequently used undergraduate conducting textbook. The two most frequently used personal score study practices, which were also reported as the two most frequently taught practices to undergraduate conductors, were “define all unfamiliar music terms” and “initial, casual read-through of the score.”