{"id":11898,"date":"2011-04-05T10:33:35","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T17:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=11898"},"modified":"2013-02-08T12:14:39","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T19:14:39","slug":"passionate-conductor-demonstrates-leadership-at-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/passionate-conductor-demonstrates-leadership-at-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Passionate conductor demonstrates leadership at competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s all in your hands,\u201d conducting major\u00a0Josh Palkki<\/strong>\u00a0explained nonchalantly.<\/p>\n

For Palkki using his hands as a tool for expression is not just a part of his music, it has become a way of life. This is often apparent as he inadvertently whips his hands through the air, emphasizing the tones and intensity of his own words as he casually speaks. Immediately, one begins to comprehend the passion that this young man has for the art of conducting.<\/p>\n

Palkki has been teaching the art of conducting more than four-and-a half years. Prior to coming to NAU he attended Ball State University where he received a degree in vocal music education.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a good conductor you have to be a good teacher,\u201d said Palkki, a graduate student in NAU\u2019s School of Music. \u201cTo take a group of strangers and make them work together as a unit takes strong leadership and guidance.\u201c<\/p>\n

Palkki had the opportunity to test his ability in mid-March at this year\u2019s American Choral Directors Association Competition in Chicago. He was chosen out of 150 video auditions to compete in the semifinals as one of eight graduate-level and seven undergraduate-level competitors. He then advanced to the finals where he competed against three doctoral-level conductors.<\/p>\n

He placed third in the overall competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing in the finals in an honor in itself,\u201d Palkki said. \u201cBut being able to compete with three other doctoral students is an even greater honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each conductor worked with a group of 85 choral singers chosen from schools around the nation. The directors were given an eight-minute time frame to organize and instruct the singers in front of a panel of six judges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very interesting situation,\u201d Palkki said. \u201cYou are given eight minutes to work with 85 strangers who have never sung together before and expected to make beautiful music.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palkki will graduate from NAU this May with a master\u2019s degree in Music and Choral Conducting.<\/p>\n

Information about the American Choral Directors Association is\u00a0online<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s all in your hands,\u201d conducting major\u00a0Josh Palkki\u00a0explained nonchalantly. For Palkki using his hands as a tool for expression is not just a part of his music, it has become a way of life. This is often apparent as he inadvertently whips his hands through the air, emphasizing the tones and intensity of his own…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":11901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}