What do children’s choir conductors need? Leading Voices Day 3

I have had the privilege to lead a roundtable discussion about children’s choir conductors’ needs in different countries with specialists in the field. I was joined by Carlo Pavese, former president of the European Choral Association from Italy, Claudia Franzen, a teacher trainer and children’s choir conductor from the Netherlands, Helmut Schaumberger, Professor at Gustav-Mahler Privatuniversitaet Klagenfurt, Austria, and Wilma ten Wolde, Artistic Director of the National Children’s Choir in the Netherlands.

It would have been excellent to have a whole day with these fantastic people, but we had one hour to answer questions about the training needs of conductors of children’s choirs. We discussed country-specific issues in training and methods that have worked to support conductors who work with children best.

At the end, I asked everybody on the panel to share three tips for conductors working with children. Here is a list of all of them:

“[It is important to be] working with Solfege (Solfa – Kodaly System); listening to the voices and to follow a holistic approach when singing in the home and in the institutions, like schools” (Helmut Schaumberger)

“To be of service of the singers to bring them from a to b; to see the whole human being to recognise their talent; to give direction; to give freedom and to cherish the profession of singing.” (Wilma ten Wolde)

“To give children good musical food and to listen to the children and the needs and the motivation and then use your pedagogy as a tool when you are really connected with the person. And learn more than what you think you need for your work.” (Carlo Pavese)

“Start with what’s already there, keep on developing yourself and get out of your bubble because it is a bit of an island to just be with your choir. Go and see other choirs and maybe you can do something together. And trust yourself.” (Claudia Franzen)

If you would like to watch the whole discussion you can do so below:

If you were inspired by Leading Voices, from September they offer some of the recordings of their programme for sale. You will find all information on this on their website.