Score preparation: first pass

I uploaded a 5 minute video to YouTube called “The Leprechaun’s Dance”  to demonstrate a first
pass with score preparation. In 1916 Percy Alldridge Granger published the suite of piano
compositions based on melodies from Charles Villiers Stanford and Irish folk music. I arranged
the Leprechaun’s Dance for concert band in 2018.

The video calls attention to score elements relevant for an interpretation by performers. These
elements include breath phrasing awareness, note lengths/connectedness, articulation patterns,
predictability, role of phrases in overall form, percussion relations, echo and tromping effects,
staccato and semi-staccato sections, accompaniment roles, articulation contrasts, fermata
approaches, accent anomalies, phrase connections, pacing and release of ritard, and ending.

Field of View

Field of View

Each conductor at the conducting courses and the workshop demonstrated their own individual
pattern of eye contact with the ensemble. One pattern all conductors should use is to establish
eye contact with the musicians (not the score) on the first few measures. Ideally a conductor
should memorize the score in order to maintain eye contact with an ensemble 100% of the time.
More often than not, however, this is not possible.  

The more eye contact a conductor has with the performers, the better the communication.
Sometimes that communication is specifically intended for a particular instrument or section.
Sometimes the communication is more generalized and intended for the entire ensemble.
For example, the conductor might need to have the entire ensemble be more unified with a
crescendo or accelerando. Eye contact with performers on the conductor’s far left or far right is
as important as eye contact with the center of the ensemble.  The field of view should be 180 degrees.

Score analysis

Score analysis

Conductors who analyze their scores are more prepared for rehearsals. Analyzing a musical score
includes identifying the form, transitions with key and tempo, texture layers, emotional contour,
dynamic phrasing, articulation phrasing, breath phrasing, harmonies, and rhythmic interplay.

Being fluent with instrument ranges and transpositions is essential. For example, if the score indicates
that a baritone sax is playing an F#, the bass clarinet is playing a B, and the French horn is playing
an E, the conductor should quickly recognize if the trio is playing in unison, an octave, or a two
octave span.

One exercise for increasing fluency with ranges/transpositions is to select a place in a score where
many Instruments are playing simultaneously. Starting from the lowest voice and working upwards,
transpose all of the instruments as needed in order to determine the structure of the chord. If the
chord is a simple triad or seventh chord, rapidly find all of the instruments that play the third of the
chord or the root of the chord.

On a similar note, find a composition with contemporary or jazz harmonies and use the above exercise to determine an entire harmonic progression. View a sample from Ira Hearshen’s Aragon 1945 - 1952 (Tennessee).

Be the Music

Be the Music

When I was 12 years old I was in a play with an actor named Peter Gerety who gave me some excellent advice. In order to act, you need to become the character completely. My friend Paul Kile, Edina High School Bands, had similar advice about conducting when he said, “Be the music.” When our entire body becomes the music, practiced gestures  become subconscious processes. The inner music is reflected in the outer gestures. The brain does not think in words, only sounds and silences. When a conductor becomes the music, performers receive both information about emotional contour and clarity simultaneously through the visual cues.

Conductor collaboration

Conductor collaboration

The conductor who participates in a collaboration between other conductors has advantages over one
who does not. Exchanging ideas about literature, planning, or score analysis is a great way to grow
and improve.

A few years ago I invited six other conductors of high school Wind ensembles/bands to gather at my
house. Each conductor brought about eight musical scores. Taking turns presenting, each conductor
explained why they might program the composition and what were the technical and musical challenges.

Guest conducting is also a form of collaboration. Guest conductors give members of an ensemble
an opportunity to receive a different perspective on interpreting the music. When the four guest
conductors led the Star of the North in a performance of Puszta (van der Roost) at the
Windworx Fanfare Concert, each of them elicited a unique interpretation. Their subtle differences
with tempo, transitions, and energy levels made each movement a new experience for the musicians.

Beat Patterns

Beat Patterns

Conductors at the Windworx Conducting courses and the University of Pretoria conducting workshop
demonstrated discipline with beat patterns. The more experienced conductors showed high
confidence, especially with starting, stopping, and handling transitions. Most of the conductors
used a "displaced beats" style of beat patterns.

I like to use three different kinds of beat patterns. The first kind, displaced beats, is very common.
There are many excellent books written about it. Each beat has its own distinct place in the space
in front of a conductor, depending on the meter, tempo and dynamic.

The second kind of beat pattern is focal point conducting. Instead of placing each beat at a different
point in space, all beats are placed in the exact same location, a “focal  point.” One of the ways this
can be used is to make it easier for an ensemble to anticipate the exact placement of a beat in a
slow tempo. In the following example, the ensemble needs to precisely attack a short note very
loudly in a slow tempo. Focal point conducting uses Beats 1 and 2 to show the ensemble exactly
where beat 3 will be.

Julie Giroux: Italian Rhapsody

The third kind of beat pattern is free form conducting. There are no rules about placement of beats.
The purpose is to communicate expressive phrasing rather than pulse.  Used at appropriate moments,
free form can be highly effective for communicating changes in the emotional contour of the music.

Seek Unconventional Teachers

Seek Unconventional Teachers

Conductors who are relatively inexperienced need to pay much attention to developing a disciplined
style of beat patterns. Whether the source of information comes from books or from mentors,
conductors who are developing their craft should practice disciplined beat patterns for all meter,
dynamic, and tempo situations. There is no substitute for the improvement that can take place
when practicing in front of a mirror.

As a conductor gains experience, however, there is much to be gained by seeking unconventional
teachers to influence one’s own conducting style. Gerben Grooten, University of Pretoria, shared
an example with me from his own experience where his depth of understanding as a conductor
was transformed by an interaction with groups of people over several months.

In my own development, unconventional teachers are life experiences. For example, when I canoe
in the wilderness, I learn about synchronicity, wind (time flow), and pacing.  When I play tennis I learn
about anticipation, balance, and assertive contact. When I care for grandchildren, I learn about
flexibility, joy in the moment, and curiosity. When I photograph, I learn about depth of field
(texture layers), contrast, and composition.