On Conducting: How Much Help To Give?

Yep, I'm a conductor.  I work from the podium everyday.  I love how band directors all say the same thing, "Don't help the kids too much because they won't be independent!"

Well, as cute as that is, don't you think you have to show the kids what you want?  There's got to be some wiggle room given for the conductor to show the ensemble what he wants.  Period.

The only route to independence is being told over and over what good musical decisions are.  If you're conducting every little nuance of the rhythm or the melodic line you're teaching the kids that each note has meaning.  If you act like a badass and give the ensemble nothing they might be able to play all the right rhythms, etc.  However, they won't be able to play those rhythms and notes with any meaning behind them.  With any feeling.

Yes, even the most mundane rhythms from a rhythm exercise book like Grover C. Yaus' "101 Rhythmic Exercises for Band" can be musical.  If you help long enough you'll hear a change in the way the kids play.  You can't just pump out "right" stuff and expect it to be good enough.  Being right only gets you so far.

Do you know how many "right" renditions I've heard of scales and exercises that sound completely vapid?  It happens everyday.  We can play them right, but making them into an "exercise" that is not conducted, poorly conducted, or simply "passed over" isn't helping.  Sure, it breeds order, but it doesn't breed improvement.

That's why middle school bands in Japan play Grade 6 literature.  They don't screw around like we do here.

Let's just say I teach very young kids.  They play band instruments and our best group plays repertory from Grade 6 pieces.  They play very difficult music.  Not all the time and not in mass quantities, but they do play it.  However, they are playing what kids that are 3 years older play all the time.  We don't mince notes in our band.

In four or five years we'll be doing nothing but playing major literature.  Why?  Because we don't waste time.  Oh, and I help out.  I conduct every single little thing.

When I can't fit something in I tell them, "I can't conduct every single little thing", but they can handle that.  They learned how to make musical decisions whilst being given every little musical detail from the podium.

The podium looks great for most people because they love power.  That's not what the podium's for.

It's for good.  It's to help.  It's for music.