The Conductor's Podcast

Hi there! Welcome to episode No. 13 of the Conductor’s Podcast, and happy almost new year! Since it’s now almost the new year, I thought we would have a special episode talking about one of my current positions, a collegiate conducting position. This is also something that a lot of people are less familiar with, and my dear friend Dr. Carolyn Watson and I hosted a series of free webinars in 2020 c...

The pandemic has taught us a lot of things. Many of us lost their loved ones, and some of us had a chance to reflect on their relationships with others.  Being forced at home gave some people a chance to spend more time with their families, while some others couldn’t see their loved ones for months because of Covid related travel restrictions or other concerns. In today’s episode, I will be explor...

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻'𝘁 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗴 🅽🅴🆆 🅼🆄🆂🅸🅲? One of the great advantages of performing works by living composers is that we can ask them questions. A conductor’s job is largely deciphering the composers’ intentions, translating the knowledge into our gestures, and conveying to the musicians to realize the music together. However, the composers’ inten...

𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀, 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀? Today we are going to discuss a sensitive and yet, somehow controversial topic - music competition. Composer Bela Bartok‘s famous quote says, “Competitions are for horses, not artists.” However, some of us, including myself, dream about winning a major competition and then have a career that just takes off at times. Professional ensembles, agents, or b...

𝗗𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸? If you’re like me, you probably feel that your career is stuck at times - if not the majority of the time. It’s really hard seeing others announcing their shiny new career opportunities and engagements as it feels like everyone else but me is having such a great career and such great succ...

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀? A good teacher, especially when you are just starting out, will help you build a strong and solid foundation, provide you with useful tools and skills to continue improving yourself along the road, and even connect you with professional musicians which can broaden your knowledge of the industry and network.  However, every teacher...

𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿? ⁠ ⁠ You might have shushed it the first time, but did the voice keep coming back, and tell you that you could possibly be a great conductor? If you are a musician thinking about potentially exploring the path of a conductor, this episode is for you.⁠ ⁠ My guest today Jennifer Jolley is an old friend and we hav...

𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱, 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲? The European tradition of a conductor's training comes from opera houses. In a theatrical setting, there are many elements  to juggle -- from staging to singing, from tech cues to the off-stage banda. It is helpful to have a coordinator to “direct traffic,” and the main responsibility of all this became the role of th...

Ready to perfect your cover letter and personal statement? In today’s episode of our podcast, I’m going to share 3 tips for writing a killer cover letter.   Before I implemented these tips myself, I would consider it a lucky day when I got a rejection letter from fellowship programs or jobs, as most days I would only hear crickets — no response at all to my applications.  So today I am going to op...

𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙘𝙩? Once I assisted conductor Jun Märkl when he guest conducted Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. We chatted about becoming a professional conductor as I was still a DMA student back then. He told me that it is such a lonely profession. There are only you and your scores in a hotel room, trying to figure everything out from whether the ensemble will like you, whet...

𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙩𝙤𝙞𝙧𝙚 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙤𝙧’𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙪𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘 𝙫𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚.  During our training and study, we rarely learn how to program, plan, and curate a concert, because we are often given conducting assignments by our teachers, and had very limited rehearsal time to prepare for a performance.  In this episode, my guest Michelle Rofrano is going to walk you through her process for deciding and researchin...

In this episode, I sit down with the diversity-championing, women-supporting, globally-impacting Maria A. Ellis, the girl conductor to chat about entrepreneurship, parenthood, being a minority in the profession and how to change the lens and look at things from a different perspective to have a positive mindset.    All About Chaowen Ting  

In today’s episode, I will share exactly how to prepare your next conducting video for applications in a professional manner.  By walking you through the five biggest mistakes to avoid in your conducting videos, I’m going to show you how to edit the format and the content of your conducting video to maximize your chances of getting noticed and reviewed more carefully in a selection process. All Ab...

Welcome to the Conductor’s Podcast. I am your host, Chaowen Ting, founder of Girls Who Conductor who has mentored hundreds of conductors from across the globe. I created the Conductor’s Podcast to share all the behind the scene secrets with you while I interview conductors, musicians, and business gurus from around the world. This is a space created for conductors, conducting students, musicians,...