Conducting: Trust Your Training, and Take Risks

Greetings!

I was originally going to do a single blog about my conducting reflections from this past semester, but it would've been a much longer read. So instead, I'm going to release my one reflection in chunks. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!

I love conducting. I won't say that I'm an amazing conductor. I'm regarded as one of, if not the best among my fellow students, but I think that's only because I practice, watch videos, study the music, and occasionally take risks. But regardless of how good I may or may not be, I love to conduct. From the moment I started my conducting lessons I wished the baton could be my primary instrument. So it's a lot of fun, and luckily I had the chance to conduct the ASU Wind Ensemble for about 15 minutes, and later the chance to use my conducting while working with a local public school band. There were some things I did well, but there are also lessons I learned along the way.

Trust Your Training

Remember this? Some say it doesn't
work, but I say, "Sure it does!"

The end result of two semesters of lessons and a semester of class conducting is... that I should be just fine. That's the good news. When I conducted the Wind Ensemble, I expected they would be able to catch on to where I was placing beats and generally be able to follow my directions. The only thing I couldn't get out of the group that I wanted were the swells placed throughout Grainger's "Irish Tune", which are pretty important. I still haven't figured out how I can fix that. But a lot of other things went well.

What I didn't know is whether or not my conducting would work for a high school band I had the chance to work with for a rehearsal. Why? Because a LOT of graduates from our music department have told me they have to discard most of what they learned in those classes once they're in front of their groups. But I couldn't very well go into the rehearsal prepared to conduct differently, so I decided to go based on feedback.

As we started the warm up, I told them what the goal was and noted, "This will also be a good chance for you to get used to my conducting." Trying not to show my nervousness, I gave them four prep beats, breathed on beat four, and Group 1 of the chorale came in. Actually, all of the groups entered just when they were supposed to with only visual cues, and I got a diminuendo on the last note. I didn't do anything special or change anything from when I worked with the college group. They noted that my preparation was different from what they were used to (different number of prep beats). I simply demonstrated my prep conducting (four beats, breathe on four), and it didn't trip them up ever again.

So what you learned in conducting class does work. I can only speculate two reasons why it wouldn't. Perhaps you didn't put in the practice on the fundamentals needed to convey clear patterns and basic gestures, such as articulations and dynamics (I mean practice with an approach similar to what you gave your instrument, to be clear). I don't mean to offend anyone by any means, but I know not everyone practices their conducting the way they practice their primary instruments. Everyone has different priorities while they're trying to get through college.

Of course, many teachers did put in that effort and were let down when it didn't work. Peter Boonshaft talks about this and why it happens in his book, "Teaching Music with Passion: Conducting, Rehearsing, and Inspiring". It's a terrific book that I highly recommend, and in which you'll find the answer to that conundrum and many others. The summary is that he believes conducting is a visual language, and we have to teach that language to our students just as if we were teaching them a foreign language (along with other factors and tips). Cool, right?

Take Risks! (Kick Your Training to the Curb)

The only thing about your training is that it was probably mostly restricted to a class setting, and therefore you probably only got the basics. I've noticed the difference it makes in students when they're also taking conducting lessons, but even then, as an undergrad you're still pretty much covering basics. Your graduate studies may or may not give you additional formal training. The problem is that, because it's undergraduate training, lessons or not, you're only really covering the basics. And the system we learned often felt constricting to me.

It was constricting because you had to conduct inside of a box. Literally. Your pattern has to be as wide as it is tall. Yes, it makes for easily understandable beat patterns, but there are some things that are just more effective when you need moments of impact. Besides, a LOT of great conductors don't worry as much about beat patterns. They conduct the music and their ensembles respond just fine! For example, check out this video of Reginald Houze conducting the Angelo State University Wind Ensemble on Sousa's "Easter Monday on the White House Lawn":

Dr. Houze conducted the Angelo State Wind Ensemble for one year, and it was by almost all standards of measurement the most successful year the Wind Ensemble has had in my six years here (although this year is shaping up pretty good, too!). His conducting was very different from anything we'd ever seen. But we responded to it. Actually, we responded to it very well. We never had an issue keeping pulse, and we experienced great musical moments at nearly ever single rehearsal. He's currently the head director at Overton High School, an arts magnet school, and his conducting has become even more focused on expressing the music as opposed to beat patterns. It takes the student some getting used to, but it works really well.

So between my experience with him, and of watching great conductors on YouTube, I was just itching to get outside of that box. The biggest risk I took in class and in lessons prior to my 15 minutes with the Wind Ensemble was in experimenting with depth perception (leaning forward or backward). In preparing to conduct Grainger's "Irish Tune", I knew there was a spot where bigger really would be better. The climax of the piece. I can't remember the measure off hand, but if you've heard it, you know what I'm talking about. Staying strictly in a beat pattern with a larger box, to me, wasn't going to communicate the impact I wanted.

But I knew that by going outside of that box, I was taking a risk. And I said, "To hell with it. I'm going for it! And if it doesn't work, I'll go back in the box."

But can you guess what happened? It worked... really well! I modified one thing about the gesture on a repeated playing because I had a suspicion they could put out even more sound there. And I was right! The last time through that section I was overwhelmed by the ensemble's sound. The players who were listening, including those in the percussion section, experienced what Ben Zander calls "Shining Eyes". It was very cool.

Scary for me, because I thought it might impact my grade, or that I would at least catch some flack for it. But ultimately very cool. And my teacher didn't even mention it when we reviewed the video.

Your training, if you practiced and feel comfortable in the fundamentals, will serve you well, whether it's a college band or a public school band (even the smaller ones). But don't be afraid to get outside of your box and take risks when the music calls for it.

Thank you for reading! I recently discovered how to track my blog's traffic, and I've been surprised to discover that a small group of people actually read this! I can't see who reads it, but it's neat to know there is an audience. This blog has always been more about me helping myself through reflecting on my experiences, but I'm honored to share those experiences with those of you who give of your time to read them. Thank you so much. I hope you continue to enjoy reading them, especially while I have time to write them over the break. Until next time, take care!

Musically yours,
Mr. Cooper

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