Student conductors take the stand

by Megan Kortemeyer
For The Post

Five Ohio University students are hoping practice makes perfect when they conduct the OU Concert Band tonight.

The Student Conductors Concert, which will be held in the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium, will feature works conducted by undergraduates Melissa Clifton, Jocelyn Wilson and Michelle White. In addition, graduate conducting majors Angela Lingo and Grant Bryley will have the chance to direct.

"This program was initiated two years ago as a way of providing an opportunity for students who were about to graduate and who were interested in the teaching profession," OU concert band director John Climer said. "It's a good way for them to practice their conducting skills and get experience standing in front of a crowd."

Senior Jocelyn Wilson agrees.

"It is a really good experience for me to do this before I start looking for jobs. Since I'm a music education major and I hopefully will end up becoming a band director, this is a good way to practice," she said.

The concert will provide an equal opportunity for each of the student conductors.

"The concert will be broken up so that everyone gets one piece to conduct," senior music education major Melissa Clifton said. "I will be conducting the first piece on the program, which is George Kenny's ••Coat of Arms••."

This is the first time the student conductors' concert will be open to the public.

"The past two years the concert has been informal, with only faculty and student teachers attending," Climer said. "This year I thought it might be better if more people could experience it, so I presented the idea for a formal concert to my colleagues. And they all approved."

For the students, the opportunity has come with a lot of time and hard work.

"We started rehearsing at the beginning of the quarter, and we usually have rehearsal twice a week," Clifton said.

In addition, Wilson spent time over winter break reviewing her musical score.

"I was presented with a score at the end of Fall Quarter, and I had winter break to look it over. I am conducting ••American Folk Rhapsody No. 2•• by Clare Grundman," she said.

Despite the time commitment, both student conductors feel this will be a worthwhile experience.

"For most of us, this is our first time standing up and conducting," Clifton said. "In the future, I'd really prefer to teach in a middle school setting, but it has been very helpful to rehearse a group of my peers. I feel that if I can stand up in front of them, I will be ready for whatever I end up doing."

While just five students are conducting at tonight's concert, the chance to do so was open to more students.

"The opportunity was made available to a number of students," Climer said. "Some of them had scheduling conflicts or just didn't have time. We like to have everyone who is currently student teaching or will be in the near future be given a chance to conduct."

"All of us who are graduating soon have to conduct through a piece," Clifton said.

All of the student conductors will be directing the OU concert band. It is one of three bands at OU.

"The concert band usually does one major concert per quarter and sometimes we will do half of a program with another musical group," Climer said. "It's made up of mostly music majors - I'd say about 90 percent of the students who join are music majors."

The Student Conductors Concert is free and open to the public.