Session Proposals

John Ginocchio is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Southwest Minnesota State University where he conducts the Symphonic Chamber Winds, SMSU/Community Concert Band, and the SMSU Jazz Ensemble. He teaches conducting, orchestration, and instrumental music education courses and serves as chair of the Department of Fine Arts & Communication.
Dr. Ginocchio holds a Doctor of Arts degree in conducting and music education from Ball State University; a Master of Music degree in trombone performance from Ball State; and a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Indiana University, Bloomington. He previously served as a doctoral assistant director in the band department at Ball State University, and he taught instrumental music for the Adams Central Community Schools in Monroe, Indiana for ten years.
Active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, Dr. Ginocchio has worked with bands of all levels throughout the Midwest and in Spain and has served on the jury for the Certamen Internacional de Bandas de Musica in Valencia, Spain. Research and writing interests include the music of the Festival of Moors and Christians, conducting, ensemble seating, wind chamber music, popular music in the classroom, and composition in the classroom. His articles have appeared in publications such as The Instrumentalist, Contributions to Music Education, and the Music Educators Journal. He has also contributed to the popular Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. In addition, he regularly presents sessions at state, national, and international conferences.

As ensemble directors, we all wish to see our groups perform at their best. To that end, we often try to give our students as much help as we can when we’re on the podium. However, in our efforts to help our students succeed, how often do we give them information that they don’t even need? At other times, are we trying to provide more information than our technique allows? Finally, and perhaps most importantly for music educators, when we conduct are we helping students to learn their role and responsibilities as members of an ensemble, or are we allowing (or even forcing) them to relinquish these in order to “follow” us? Most of us can answer “yes” to one or more of these questions, and that is why this session was created.

This session will highlight some of the conducting habits commonly seen in music educators at all levels. We will discuss the well-intentioned origins of these habits and as well as the communicative and educational difficulties they tend to cause. Alternative conducting gestures or rehearsal strategies will be presented, and the session will conclude with some basic suggestions for conductors wishing to improve their conducting.

• Band - Middle School
• Band - Secondary
• Choral - Middle School
• Choral - Secondary
• Orchestra - Middle School
• Orchestra - Secondary
• Collegiate