First of all, what is conducting even?
You’ve probably seen them dressed up in their fancy attire, brandishing their baton, and waving their arms around dramatically. What is a conductor’s purpose though? The purpose of a conductor is to stand in front of the ensemble and communicate to them through arm gestures and facial expressions.
While most people have seen a conductor at some point of their lives, I feel like only a small handful of people can say that they’ve done the conducting themselves. I am grateful that I had that special opportunity to be a student conductor for my high school band at our recent spring concert. I’ll be going through what that experience was like and hopefully you leave with a better appreciation for what conductors do, even if you’re not musically inclined.
I was introduced to music in Grade 7 and my interest in conducting followed sometime after that. I was captivated by the fluid motions that my music teacher would make and I set off by myself to learn what they meant.
The Basics (Right Hand)
The right hand is mainly responsible for keeping the time and make sure everyone is playing at the same speed. The most common pattern is 4/4. This is a called a time signature, which means that the numerator (the top of the fraction) denotes how many beats there are per measure, while the denominator (the bottom of the fraction) tells which kind of equals one beat. In this case, there are 4 beats per measure and each quarter note is one beat. How would this be shown?
Well, the right hand would repeat the pattern below. The beats are made by a gentle flick of the wrist while following the pattern. 
The pattern changes as the time signature changes. Shown below are other common time signatures: 2/4 and 3/4.
These basic patterns can be adjusted to match the intended effect of the music. For example, conducting these patterns with broad strokes would indicate that the music should be powerful and strong. Also consider how conducting these patterns in a rounded, fluid manner would compare to conducting them with sharp flicks of the wrist. The former would show that the music should be smooth, flowing and continuous while the latter would show that the music should be short and detached.
The Basics (Left Hand)
The left hand is mainly responsible for cuing entrances and cut-offs. Although the left hand can just mirror the right hand patterns above, it should also move independently as it has a distinct role to play too. An entrance would be cued by making good eye contact with the musicians, holding up the left hand to hold their attention, and then moving it when they’re supposed to play. Similarly, the gesture for a cut-off is starting with the left hand palm-up and turning it palm-down while pinching your your pointer and thumb together. This tells the musicians to stop playing.
The left hand also controls the dynamics – how loud or soft the music is supposed to be. If the music is supposed to crescendo (get louder), then the conductor would show that by holding their left hand palm-up and slowly raising it. For a decrescendo (get softer), the conductor would do the opposite and have their left hand palm-down and slowly lowering it.
The Score
A score shows all of the individual parts of the music together and is what the conductor must base their conducting off of. I like to think of a score as a cooking recipe: it shows all the ingredients that you need, how much you need, and when to blend the ingredients. Two chefs may be given the same recipe but still result in unique dishes. The same goes for a music conductor. The score tells the conductor how the pieces should sound and how fast it should be, but the same piece can sound different under different conductors. The conductor follows the score, but also adds their own flair and interpretation.
A conductor requires not only a thorough understanding of the score but also a clear idea how they want the music to sound. While a musician just has to know their own individual part in the music, the conductor must know how all those parts go together. By far the most challenging part of my conducting experience was interpretation. I had to make decisions about how I wanted the music to sound like. For the first few rehearsals, I found this to be quite difficult. So much was coming at me at once that it was hard to pick out individual parts and say “play more like this.”
However, with my teacher’s help and many rehearsals later, I found that I was now able to confidently make decisions about how I wanted the music to sound. For me, that was a powerful moment because that’s when I really felt I had become a conductor. I may know the technical aspect of conducting – knowing all of the different gestures and motions – but the real conducting comes from stepping up to the plate (the podium in this case) and making decisions. I’m certainly still learning, but I feel like I’ve grown a lot through this experience.
Video!
I’m sure you’ve been waiting for this the whole article, but here’s a video of me actually conducting at my spring concert. The piece is “When the Spring Rain Begins to Fall” by Randall D. Standridge.
The composer describes the piece as: “My moods are incredibly affected by the weather. I love those moments in spring when you smell the rain and see the dark clouds on the horizon, heralding life, not death. Every spring is an affirmation of the possibilities that life has in store for us all, and the potential joy that lies in wait. These emotions on one rainy afternoon inspired the piece that became When the Spring Rain Begins to Fall.”
It’s the culmination of several months of hard work and practice from everyone. I’m extremely grateful that my teacher gave me this opportunity and I’m so proud of the music I was able to create with my fellow students. I plan on conducting another piece next year and I look forward to that.
This is just an brief overview of what conducting is, so if there’s anything you’re still curious about, I’d be more than happy to answer.
