There are three kind of repertoire:
- Standards. These are the pieces you’ve conducted enough times that you can correct the mistakes before they’re made.
- Pieces You Know Well. Maybe you’ve conducted it before, maybe you studied it in depth in a choral lit class or by listening to that one Voces8 album on repeat. You know it, but you are still learning it as you go.
- Completely New Rep. Maybe you’ve heard it before. Maybe you picked it blind on a sheet music website because it fills a need. In any case, there’s a lot of discovery to happen in rehearsal and in preparation.
I’m doing quite a bit of Type #3 with my ensembles this fall, and I couldn’t be more joyful about it. The process of discovery is good for me as a musician, for my students as musicians, and for us as an ensemble.