Embodied Score Study: From Notation to Gesture
Clinic Synopsis:
Most conductors have felt it—the rehearsal where you keep stopping, keep explaining, but the musicality just isn’t there. Conductors are trained to analyze a score but rarely taught how notation becomes physical gesture. This session closes that gap—connecting score study to embodied decision-making using principles from Laban Movement Analysis. Directors leave with a repeatable, actionable process for catalyzing a score into clear rehearsal leadership and a more responsive ensemble.
David Vickerman
- Biographical Information
Dr. David Vickerman is Director of Bands and Professor of Music at San José State University, where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and teaches undergraduate and graduate conducting. Since 2023, he has also served as Music and Artistic Director of the San José Wind Symphony, only the third director in its history since 1958. Recognized for his contributions to music education and conducting, he has received the American Prize in Conducting (2015), the CMEA Bay Section Outstanding Music Educator Award (2023), and the John Swain College/University Music Educator Award (2025).
Under his leadership, the SJSU Wind Ensemble performed at the CBDNA W/NW Div. Conference (2022) and CASMEC (2020). Previously, he was Director of Bands at The College of New Jersey, earning invitations to the CBDNA Eastern Div. (2014) and NAfME Eastern Div. (2017). He also served as Associate Conductor of Great Noise Ensemble, a professional new music ensemble in Washington D.C.
Committed to contemporary music, Dr. Vickerman has commissioned and premiered numerous works by emerging composers. His arrangements for winds include Gabriela Lena Frank’s Escaramuza and Philip Glass’s Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Wind Ensemble. A frequent presenter at national and international conferences, he speaks on conducting pedagogy, teaching social justice in ensembles, and vulnerability. Along with Alexandra Beller, he is the co-author of The Embodied Conductor: A Somatic Approach with Laban and Bartenieff, published by Oxford University Press.
Alexandra Beller - Biographical Information
Alexandra Beller, MFA, CMA, is a leading expert in movement analysis, somatics, and embodied pedagogy, specializing in Laban/Bartenieff. She was on the faculty at Princeton University for seven years (2016–2023), developing courses in movement analysis, composition, and performance. She is Core Faculty at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies and artistic director of Alexandra Beller/Dances, focused on choreography, pedagogy, and movement research.
A proponent of trauma-informed, nonviolent pedagogy, Alexandra’s work integrates inclusive, culturally responsive approaches to movement education. She has mentored artists, conductors, and educators internationally, reshaping how movement is understood across disciplines. Her research bridges the gap between technical precision and personal expressivity, ensuring that movement vocabulary is not prescriptive but adaptable to individual identity, cultural context, and artistic voice.
She has been an Adjunct Faculty at Rutgers, Barnard, and Montclair State and a guest lecturer at Yale, Harvard, MIT, The Ailey School, and many more. A former principal dancer with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (1995-2001), she has choreographed for Lincoln Center, A.R.T., and Folger Shakespeare Library. Her book, The Anatomy of Art: Unlocking the Creative Process for Theater and Dance, launches through Bloomsbury in June 2026. She co-authored The Embodied Conductor: A Somatic Approach with Laban and Bartenieff with Dr. David Vickerman, to be published by Oxford University Press in August 2027.
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