Why 7 Strategies for an Outstanding Program
Dr. Jonathan Talberg
In this 75 minute masterclass, Dr. Jonathan Talberg will distill his 35 years of teaching—at high school, church, and University—into seven actionable items that conductors can use as a checklist for excellence. Topics include recruiting, score study, lesson planning, empowering your students, and learning to challenge yourself with every concert.Â
This masterclass in conducting is about everything EXCEPT how you wave your hands. A recipient of achievement awards from from the California Music Educators Association, NAACP, and the Welsh Eisteddfod, Dr. Talberg has spent his life advocating for singers, for music in the schools, and for excellence in choral music education.
- Recruiting: The never ending job. (AKA: The most important thing is keeping the most important thing the most important thing.
- An idiots guide to score study.
- Making lesson planning easy through score study.Â
- The joy of watching yourself on video-- do you look like the music?Â
- Architecture isn’t just for buildings; discovering beauty in musical structure.
- Their jobs vs. your jobs; how to prioritize music making in the rehearsal.Â
- Keeping engaged for a lifetime, or why I still love my job after almost 35 years of teaching.Â
Meet Your Professor
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Recipient of the President’s Award from the California Music Educators Association honoring "extraordinary accomplishments in music education," Dr. Jonathan Talberg serves as Director of Choral Activities at the Bob Cole Conservatory, where he is conductor of the international award-winning Bob Cole Conservatory Chamber Choir and the CSULB University Choir. Recent career highlights include leading the Chamber Choir to first place at the Austrian Spittal International Choir Festival and the "Choir of the World" competition in Wales. Additionally, he and the choir have performed with groups as diverse as the Kronos Quartet, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Pacific Symphony and the Rolling Stones.
A passionate advocate for choral music education, Dr. Talberg is regularly engaged to conduct honor choirs across the US, including numerous all-state choruses, and National Association for Music Education conference choirs. His choirs from Long Beach State have performed in venues throughout Europe and Asia, including the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Great Hall of the People in China.
Of the many hats he wears each day, the one he is most proud of is mentor to the next generation of choral musicians. Alumni of the Bob Cole Conservatory Choral Studies program are teaching at elementary, middle and high schools, churches, community colleges and four-year universities throughout the country. Scores of alumni are professional singers—in opera, musical theater, choirs, church music, jazz and pop.
Bob Cole Conservatory choral studies graduates are currently earning—or have finished—their doctorates at some of the finest institutions in the country, including the University of Michigan, the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Indiana University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Iowa, the University of Houston, the University of Southern California and UCLA.
Dr. Talberg received his BM in Choral Conducting from Chapman University, where he received the Outstanding Alumnus in the Arts award in 2014. He earned his MM and DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Pops, and the May Festival Chorus. His conducting teachers include Roger Wagner, William Hall, Earl Rivers, John Leman and Elmer Thomas.