Taking up the conductor’s baton

Video posted February 28, 2018 in Arts & Entertainment by Yooni Kwon.

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For Alex Cooper choir began as simply a class to fill a middle school credit slot. Then it turned to a passion and a career.

Cooper is a first-year graduate student now at Penn State, majoring in choral conducting. 

Cooper said that an experience with his middle school choral director ultimately changed his perspective. He learned to go "beyond notes and rhythms" and beyond what's "printed on the page"; to singing "with musicality".

Cooper also says that one of his favorite things about being a choral conducting major is having SMEs; Significant Music Experiences as described by Professor Dennis Glocke, one of Penn State's band directors. As Cooper says it, the bonds created through rehearsal and practice are stronger than most, and ultimately his SME.

Currently, Cooper conducts for Penn State’s choirs, as the choirs are scheduled to perform one big choir piece, the Brahms’ Requiem, for their spring concert in April.

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