Conducting

Stanford provides instruction for students who have never conducted as well as for students with all levels of experience.

Our conducting students often serve as music directors of campus musical theater productions and as assistant conductors of large Department of Music ensembles, with opportunities to conduct rehearsals and performances. Music majors concentrating in conducting present capstone projects that may include a full-length conducting recital, a lecture demonstration, conducting a shorter work in concert with accompanying conductor’s analysis, or a thesis demonstrating original research.

Faculty

Director of Music Theory, Senior Lecturer
Associate Professor
University Organist, Lecturer
Gretchen B. Kimball Director of Orchestral Studies, Associate Professor
Harold C. Schmidt Director of Choral Studies, Professor

Lessons & Courses

Conducting Lessons and Courses

Music 130B: Elementary Instrumental Conducting
Music 130C: Elementary Choral Conducting
Music 136: Intermediate Conducting: Music Since 1900
Music 230: Advanced Instrumental Conducting
Music 231: Advanced Choral Conducting

Academic Programs

Explore the Major & Concentrations

The undergraduate major in Music is based on a course of study that combines breadth of musical experiences across multiple dimensions with depth in a chosen area, allowing students to develop an array of tools as part of their aesthetic and musical formation. Theory, performance, history, cultural contextualization, technology, and science all contribute to a curricular foundation for all majors. 

 


Explore the 24-Unit Minor

The music minor allows students to explore music through a flexible program of study. The minor can focus on Composition, History, Performance, Conducting, Theory, or Music, Science & Technology (MST), or on areas not currently served by the major, such as Ethnomusicology, Jazz, or Musical Theater. The minor can also focus on musical aspects of a non-music major such as American Studies, Anthropology, Area Studies, Computer Science, CSRE, TAPS, etc.

 


Learn about the Performance Certificate

The Performance Certificate program is open by audition to undergraduates who demonstrate a high degree of accomplishment in their area of music performance, study privately with one of the Department of Music's faculty, and wish to inform their performance studies with coursework from the Department of Music's other areas of academic focus: history, theory, computer music, and composition.

 

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