The following is a list of websites helpful to music conductors of all stages to help refine their skills.
1) http://www.thinkingapplied.com/conducting_folder/conducting.pdf Author, Lee Humphries of ThinkingApplied.com in Minneapolis, Minnesota
This specific pdf file was written by Lee Humphries and is incredibly useful for new (and experienced) conductors for several reasons. The relationships between tempi are clearly explained and how to listen to "color" and "pitch" specific sections of music are also described. The site also clarifies how the conductor should communicate with the orchestra in non-confusing ways both physically and verbally.
2) http://www.conductorsguild.org/ The disclaimer made by the website indicates:
The Conductors Guild is the only music service organization devoted exclusively to the advancement of the art of conducting and to serving the artistic and professional needs of conductors. We have a membership of over 1,850 members representing all fifty United States and more than thirty other countries.
This, as you can imagine, is a meeting place for the new and interested as well as professional conductors. It is a place where some 2,000 conductors are able to communicate via internet regarding repertoire, music controversies of the podium, concerts, and so forth. The website advocates conductors and musical expertise, and advertises conducting workshops one can take part in and journals one can subscribe to in order to educate themselves further.
3) http://conductorsinstitute.com/ Conductor's Institute of South Carolina Dr. Donald Portnoy, Director of School of Music, UWC, Columbia, SC Keep in mind, many universities and colleges hold seminars and "conductor camps" throughout the year. This is an example of ONE. This website offers the advertisements of conducting sessions and "camp-like" opportunities for conductors to retrain themselves or even learn something new from a different angle or institute. As a conductor, director, or leader, it is always important to stay on top of the newest ideas and keep the old traditions from falling completely out of mind.
4) http://cnx.org/content/m12404/latest/ This website has an abundance of information from meter to visual aids to teaching what you are conducting! It is plentiful with basic information and even varying degrees of difficulty on certain topics of music and conducting-specific concerns. This is especially helpful for those conductors who are training new musicians to follow-the-leader, as the site provides activities a music teacher in a classroom setting might need to start off their first classes of the year, or even as the students progress to a more difficult level.
5) http://www.lds.org/cm/display/0,17631,4773-1,00.html This site is great for starting conductors, especially in the religious or youth setting. Once again, this site offers basic information but also useful information for leading a group of musicians into repertoire and exercises. It provides interactive conducting "courses" as well as a break-down of how to teach a group of students by first breaking down the music into parts.
This website is informative, and this specific link will direct you toward exercises helpful for your body and spine especially when you might, as a regular musician, be standing or sitting for lengths of time.
http://www.1backpain.com/back_exercises.htm
Performing Arts Medicine Association
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