Schreier learns to respond
Boulder, Colo. – Anthony Schreier is compelled by the power behind a flick of the wrist.
This summer, the music education major from Grand Forks will be travelling to two different conducting seminars around the country: one for a week at University of Colorado, Boulder, and the other for a month at Sewanee University in Sewanee, Tennessee.
In Colorado, Schreier will be getting ahead in his conducting career.
“I signed up for one of 20 spots. It’s geared more towards people who already have their bachelor’s degrees,” he said.
Having walked at this year’s commencement ceremony, Schreier only has student teaching left to finish his degree.
“I'll probably be the youngest one there. We’ll take turns throughout the week going from the ensemble to the podium and leading. We’ll come with a little bit of prep, and then it's a masterclass situation. There are lectures that they'll have with their conducting faculty and guest faculty as well.”
The seminar in Tennessee will present Schreier with conducting work that becomes progressively more independent and involved each week, starting with observations, music score studies, and masterclasses, adding short conducting exercises into rehearsals, and finally collaborating with other members of the seminar on a more equal basis.
“The fourth week is the week that I'm really looking forward to because in addition to having four apprentice conductors, they also have four apprentice composers,” he said. “Each of the apprentice conductors gets paired with a composer, and the composers write a new work for the ensemble. It's the job of the apprentice conductor the last week of the camp to lead the ensemble through the piece that they're paired with, and they collaborate with the composer. It'll be a completely new work that each of us gets to conduct at the very end.”
Schreier has taken advantage of several other conducting opportunities at Minot State, having first found his interest in his advanced conducting class.
“We had an abnormally large class, so I was really starved for more one-on-one experience, or just podium time in general, so I reached out to maestro Amaya (Efrain, associate professor, composition and theory and music director of the Minot Symphony Orchestra),” he said. “The more I did conducting lessons with him, the more comfortable I felt reading 13, 14 lines at a time, the sounds that can be made, and the power that you have with just one wrist movement. It can completely change the sound of the entire ensemble. I found that extremely fascinating.”
In February, Schreier conducted a piece at the Minot Symphony Orchestra’s “Twist and Shout” concert. He also was hired as the conductor for the Rugby Symphony Orchestra’s concert in April, their debut since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Rugby Symphony Orchestra is a community orchestra, so a lot of the people haven't played since high school, and they're now retired, almost retired, they have just started a family, and now that the kids are a little bit older, they have a little bit more time to do things that they want to do. It's a lot of musicians that haven't played in a long time,” he said.
“The first rehearsal was quite a bit of a shock because I was on my own for the first time ever. Every other time that I've conducted, I've had my private lesson instructor right there or people that I knew in the ensemble that were there to encourage me or offer suggestions. To see the growth of the people who hadn't played in two years, in 20 years, to see the growth they were able to accomplish in seven to eight weeks from downbeat of the first rehearsal to the last upbeat of the concert, it was really cool and really inspiring.”
One skill Schreier will practice at the summer conducting seminars is staying flexible, even as the leader of a large ensemble.
“Really the job of the conductor is to respond. It’s not only to lead the ensemble, but to respond to the things that they're giving you, the sounds that they're giving you, their playing ability that they're giving you, what kind of cues that they need to take from you, how clear you need to be in your pattern,” he said. “One of the things that I learned right away is that it's okay if you have a plan of how the first rehearsal is going to go and then you deviate immediately.”
About Minot State University
Minot State University is a public university dedicated to excellence in education, scholarship, and community engagement achieved through
rigorous academic experiences, active learning environments, commitment to public service, and a vibrant campus life.
| Published: 06/07/22 |
