THE CONDUCTOR

Choral conductors need to have mastered the basic skills of conducting, which include all types of beat patterns, preparatory beats, cut-offs, and fermatas, as well as independence of the left hand, so they can commu-nicate the music to the singers without excessive verbal explanations or distracting gestures. A sequential approach for developing these essen-tial conducting skills is presented below. Palestrina’s Adoramus Te is presented at the end of this chapter (see Example 1.1) for practicing these skills, along with conducting resources for additional study.

Beat Patterns

For your choral methods teacher, conduct simple songs in various time signatures, such as Ode to Joy in 4/4; America in 3/4; Camptown Ladies in 2/4; It Came Upon a Midnight Clear in a slow 6/8; and W hen Johnny Comes Marching Home Again in a quick 6/8. Examples of relatively well-known songs in unusual meters are Take Five in 5/4, and the pop-ular 7/8 arrangement of Deck the Halls. Pay close attention to the following points (see Figures 1.1 to 1.4):

1. Confident posture, feet “planted.”

2. Comfortably low conducting plane.

3. Clarity of the downbeat.

4. Bounce of each beat on the conducting plane (no dipping below!).

5. Left and right positions are truly left and right of the down-beat.

6. No left-hand “mirroring” of the beat (lefties should conduct right-handed).

7. Use or imagine a baton to find correct palm-down hand posi-tion.

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Figure 1.1 Proper Conducting Stance, Beat 1

Figure 1.2 Proper Conducting Stance, Beat 2

Figure 1.3 Proper Conducting Stance, Beat 3

Figure 1.4 Proper Conducting Stance, Beat 4

The Left Hand

Use the left hand to do what the right hand cannot do, such as cue out-side of the beat pattern or dynamics for a subgroup, or page turns; or to reinforce the right hand by emphasizing important musical elements (see Figure 1.5). Practice developing an independent left hand by conducting a steady beat in the right hand while the left hand performs other duties, both musical and non-musical (McElheran, 1989).

Preparatory Beats

No aspect of conducting technique is more important than a clear preparatory beat. In your choral methods class, conduct a preparatory beat on all possible beats (as a preparation for beat 1, for beat 2, for beat 3, for beat 4, for beat 5, for 6, etc.). Have the class sing a pitch on the desired beat to assess the clarity of your preparatory gesture. Memorize these points:

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Figure 1.5 Left Hand Independence

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1. Use only one preparatory beat with no verbal counting.

2. Always inhale (quietly) with the singers on the preparatory beat.

3. Have eye contact with the singers at all times, but especially on the preparatory beat and downbeat.

4. Communicate the desired dynamic, tempo, and expression in the preparatory gesture (see Figure 1.6).

It is also important to practice the preparatory beat to a cut-off, followed by a clean beat and eye contact on the cut-off. This is more effective than the unnecessary movement that goes into curly-cue, finger-tip, or mouth-worded cut-offs (McElheran, 1989).

Off-Beat Cues

A cue or entrance that occurs on an off-beat should not be commu-nicated by subdividing the preparatory beats, despite the temptation to

Figure 1.6 Preparatory Gesture and Facial Expression

do so. In the case of off-beat cues and entrances, the conductor should give two preparatory beats—the second of which should have a bit more rebound (as in a “hot stove”) so that the singers will sing on its off-beat (McElheran, 1989, p. 51). This gesture is sometimes referred to as the “Gesture of Syncopation” (Green & Gibson, 2004, p. 48).

Practice “psychological conducting” (p. 238) with your choral methods class until you can effectively get them to sing on an off-beat without any extra motion besides the right hand’s two preparatory beats, the last of which has more of a bounce. When this is accomplished, experiment with different tempos and dynamic levels. Off-beat entrances occur frequently in music, so opportunities to practice this gesture can be easily found. One example is in measure 11 of Palestrina’s Adoramus Te at the end of this chapter.

Fermatas

The beginning choral conductor often stumbles over fermatas, and needs to gain confidence in executing the three different types of fermatas: no break, short break, long break. The fermata itself is not difficult to conduct; it just requires the conductor to hold the hand (or baton) still as long as desired (McElheran, 1989), or move it slightly while sustaining (Green & Gibson, 2004). It is the end of the fermata that deserves special attention. All three types may be practiced using Palestrina’s Adoramus Te.

No Break

After holding the fermata at the bottom or bounce level of the beat for the desired length of time, move the hand on to the next beat without a breath. For example, if the fermata falls on beat 2, the conductor should hold the right hand steady on beat 2 for a brief duration, and then move it to beat 3 without a breath. The left hand may be used to indicate no breath (McElheran, 1989).

Semi-Pause and Breathe

The short-pause fermata is begun identically to the no-break fermata in that it is held still (or slightly moving) at the bounce level of the beat

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for the desired length of time. Then, however, the conductor must re-beat that re-beat, the second time as a combined cut-off and preparatory breath to the next beat of entrance. This is the most common type of fermata (McElheran, 1989), and because the cut-off and preparatory gesture are one and the same, the rhythmic momentum of the musical line continues (Green & Gibson, 2004).

Grand Pause and Start Again

This type of fermata is usually indicated by a caesura (//) and requires a complete cut-off and pause before resuming. Again, the fermata is held at the bottom or bounce level of the beat for as long as desired, followed by a cut-off. Then a preparatory gesture to begin again is given (McElheran, 1989).

Conducting from the Piano

It is not unusual for a secondary school choral teacher to lead the choir from the piano. This is not ideal, however, from many perspectives:

first, the teacher’s hands and eyes are occupied with the piano and page turns, and her or his body is partially hidden and limited in movement around the classroom, which is not conducive to many middle school and high school behavior environments. Nevertheless, for the teacher who occasionally must or wants to work from the piano, he or she should practice the following (see Figure 1.7):

1. Stand while playing the piano and leading the choir.

2. Play the piano with one hand and conduct with the other.

3. Develop preparatory head gestures.

4. Keep your eyes on the singers.

5. Be careful not to play so loudly that the singers cannot hear themselves.

Without these five skills in place (and you may think of others), con-ducting from the piano will not produce desired musical or behavioral results.

BRAINTEASER 1-1: PRACTICING PIANO AND CONDUCTING SKILLS