HS/College Mentorship Program FAQ
Prerequisites
NO. This course is designed for young musicians with an interest in learning more about conducting, and beginner conductors with limited experience. It’s great if you already have some experience or knowledge about conducting, but don’t feel discouraged if you don’t. That’s what we are here for!
For the sessions, you just need an electronic device and reliable internet access. A laptop, tablet, or a smartphone would work. You do NOT need any high-quality equipment. All sheet music will also be distributed online. You can either print it out or read off of your device.
NO. It’s nice if you already own a baton, but you do not need one for the participation of our program. If you would like one, we can offer recommendations or help you obtain one before the first session.
No–we welcome instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, or anyone just interested in learning more about conducting.
As long as you can read western music notation (aka a five-line staff with white/black circles indicating pitches), join us with lots of curiosity!
Yes. The program will be taught by mentors in English, and participants are expected to interact with each other, ask and answer questions, and participate in activities using English.
Application Process
Our mentorship program is designed for young women and non-binary conductors to promote an environment that supports gender-marginalized musicians. We take a gender-specific approach and focus on how biases might impact these conductors’ experience.
However, our professional development series is open to all genders, all skill-sets, and all levels of expertise.
Nope! Since this is a virtual program, as long as you can attend the sessions in your time zone, you can apply from anywhere on the globe!
The application process is completely free!
If you are a music educator wanting to nominate a student, or a conductor wanting to apply for our future mentorship programs, please fill out this form.
If you simply want to stay informed about our future projects in general, please follow us on IG or FB @GirlsWhoConduct, or sign up for our newsletter.
About the Program
We will learn some basic conducting techniques (aka moving your hands/baton) and also discuss topics surrounding the profession, such as score study, rehearsal strategy, programming ideas, career building, reviewing conducting videos, etc.
The Girls Who Conduct High School-College Mentorship Program mentors are a group of women and non-binary conductors with decades of combined professional experience in the conducting field. Mentors come from a wide array of backgrounds and ensemble experience, including orchestra, opera, wind band, choral, musical theatre, and military groups. While many are based across the US, each season includes mentors who are based outside the US or who have international conducting experience.
All sheet music will be distributed online as PDF files. You are welcome to print them out or just read them off of your device.
You can read the sheet music on your laptop or tablet. A smartphone screen will be too small to read all musical notations, though. If you like reading sheet music on a tablet, Newzik and ForScore are two paid-to-use APPS, but you do not need to use those apps — any browser or reading program (like iBook) can do the job.
We will have a variety of music selections, from orchestral, wind ensemble, choral, operatic, or theater repertoire. Students will be able to choose which of the excerpts they want to delve deeper into during our score study session.
Yes, all sessions will be recorded and be available for review for our admitted students.
All accepted individuals will receive a full scholarship to participate in the program!
Yes! In addition to our instructional sessions, we will host virtual meet-and-greets and group study sessions.
Each accepted mentee should plan to participate in all eight of the season’s sessions. However, we do understand that a participant may have a concert, mandatory course in school, or other conflict due to a required responsibility. We also understand that emergencies and illnesses come up. Participants should reach out to the host mentors to have session absences excused with at least one month’s notice for non-emergencies and as soon as possible in the case of illness or emergency.
Still have questions?
Send us an email at hscollege@girlswhoconduct.