Mentoring in the Ensemble Arts

Helping Others Find Their Voice

Examining the mentor-protégé dynamic and its critical impact on the lives of ensembles and their conductors, author Tim Sharp draws from research, his own experience as a choir conductor, mentor, and protégé, and his travels as the executive director of the American Choral Directors Association in this study. The result is a profound portrait of this important, but rarely discussed, aspect of a conductor’s life. The book reinforces a conductor’s own desire to develop his or her own personal learning community to continually strive for excellence by being a protégé to other leaders. The overarching goal of this consideration is to help the conductor realize the full potential of the mentor-protégé relationship and to assist both mentor and protégé in achieving the best possible benefits of these relationships. The result, Sharp argues, will be better music making and more fulfilled human beings for generations to come.