Patty Saunders: Reflecting on the Associate Conductor Experience

Patty Saunders was the 2019 Area 5 Associate Conductor and worked with Conductor Lee Afdahl at the Spring Festival in Dayton, Ohio. When asked to sum up her experience she said,

“The Area 5 Associate Conductor Program was a tremendous experience and I am very grateful to have been selected. The program supported and stretched my abilities as a director and I walked away from the weekend with a tool box useful in rehearsal planning and execution, conducting clarity, and artistic expression. Lee Afdahl’s mentoring was second to none as I received his expert guidance from before stepping onto the podium to thoughts post-concert. I have already begun to utilize his teaching in directing my community auditioned choir, my youth community choir and in other massed ring and clinician work. Choices of when to sub-divide, mental multi-tasking, use of the left hand, clear baton use, and style and size of the conducting pattern in massed settings were very helpful take away points. I am also thankful to the hundreds of members of Area 5 for their preparations and responsive ringing to my direction. Their hard work both before the weekend and during made conducting the massed choir a joy and productive learning experience.”