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Senior Scholar Papers Student Research
1975
Choral and Orchestral Conducting Techniques
Tomas Iacono
Colby College
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Iacono, Tomas, "Choral and Orchestral Conducting Techniques" (1975). Senior Scholar Papers.
Paper 305.
htp://digitalcommons.colby.edu/seniorscholars/305
/CHORAL AND ORCHESTRAL CONDUCTING TECHNIQUES/
By
THO S J. IACONO
Submit ed On Partial ulfillment of the Requir ents
of the Senior Scholars Program
COLBY COLLEGE
1975
0:
,.
APPROVED BY,
TUTOR
MUSIC
6
OLARS
lcono-l
In this final report on he aspects of choral an orches-
tral conducting I will divide the discussiun Onto four a eas:
1) Score Read"ng, 2) Rehearsing, 3) Movement and Beat Patterns.
4) ecessary Traits for the Condu tor. Th"s w"ll be a general
discussion, i layman's terms, of the work involved. not giving
attention to specific details and problems dea t with in speci-
fic works. This paper is erely to serve as a sort of jo rnal-
istic repor 0 y ow experience in earning this art. Prac-
ti al exper"ence involving rehearsals and actually directing a
chora or orchestral group was limited during he yea of study.
owever, during January I worked w"th a choral group of Colby
students rehearsing and ultimately performin a rog a of Ne-
o Songs ~ Spirituals. This was a time when I was able to
apply l l ~ t h aspects of t e above four are s to my stud n
the way of ractical exper"ence.
Score Reading
The first thOng a conductor must do when he se-ects a
piece of us"c or is handed a piece of music is to sit at the
piano an lay t rough it. A familiarity with the piece 's at
least accomplished in this way. One must practice the sk"ll of
simply reading the notes. This involves. with a large s a e
orchestral work. being able at sight to read dOfferent clefs and"
to transpose "nstruments of d"fferent keys. When the complex-
i y of any vo"ces or parts make "t hysically impossib e to
play all the otes. then special at ention is p d to the main
line wher ver t occurs. Being able to readily recognize rhyth-
mic a d scale patt rns.faci itates the reading.
In my ow expe ience I found that I was too bogged down
Iacono-2
by the co lexity of large scale works to be able to read them
w'th any speed. Therefore I would have difficulty real'zing
'mportant lines. So began by reading through small r scale
works of the four-stave type such as the ear y Beethoven t r n ~
Quartets, Schubert Trios. and four to eight pa t choral scores.
This gave me a familiarity w'th read' g different clefs and I
was able to read easier from reading a smaller number of arts.
Gradually I worked through larger scale works for read'ng, such
aSt Barber's Adagio for Strings, Debussy's Prelude to the After-
noon of &!:. Faun, Wagner's "Prelude" to Act I of Tristan und
Isolde, Haydn's Symphony #75, Beethoven's Symphony #3 (Eroica) I
a d Tchaikovsky's Romeo an' Jul'et Fantasy-Overture (I have yet
to tackle St avinsky's Le Sacre). Gradually I ecame better at
(;
three important things in readingl rea in diffe ent c efs,
transposing i strume ts, and notic'ng the main line.
Once the fam'l"a ity with the piece is estab ished, seri-
ous analysis should then e given to important aspects involved
in the music. such as the ha mon'c language, melodic construc-
tion, and "mportant rhyt ms. Thorough analysis of these elements
"II give the conductor a c ear understanding of the composer's
'deas. intention, and style. When the conductor has gained a
clear understandin of these eleme ts of the music, he may then
oceed to study the music for detai such as dynamic markings:
te IpO and ~ e r changes; articulationr important themes, patter s
a d motives; impo tant entrances and cut-offs for voices or
instru entsj and proper hrasings. The orchestral scores that
were studied in thi de a'l were Haydn's Symp ony #75 and Tchai-
kovsky' Ho eo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture. These scores were
Iacono-J
read. and analyzed in the ove manner. During the weekly ses-
sions wit y tutor, Professor R'. practice an discussio. of
this ork took plac Tlese sessir s were also use fo the
con uctir 0 hese pieces. I would ractice the conducting
usin a recording or with Prof'ssor Re play'ng pas ages on the
piano. This was our way of "r hea sing" the m sic. In addition
to learning the appropriate condu t' g movements, we wou d dis-
cuss how the rehearsal of ertain passage with an orchestra
should be carried out and what woul need special attent'on.
Hal 0 each semester was devote to horoughly studying these
two works wh'
i volved the reading.analyzi ,and conducting
ract'ce; but 0 actual rehearsal time with an or hest took
lace. Only when one has all these deta'ls 0 a piece of mus'c
, mly in his gap, is he able to apply i own 'nterpretation
through knowing t e compose's intentions and the stye of the
per'od. Knowledge of th s o ~ r n s came from my study of the
historical periods in usic to which t ese pieces pe tained.
It also "nvolved discussing these aspects with my tutor. ow
the conductor is eady to rehearse.
Rehearsing
Rehearsals should be panned ahead of time. always con-
sider "ng the time available for work to be ac ompl'shed. Com-
plete efficie cy should be stdved for n the use of th's time.
Every minute f rehearsal ti e is valuable. e pec'ally if the
playe 5 are being paid, so that a group may e thoroughly pre-
pared for top performance at the time of public presentation.
Again. the conductor must know the mu ic c6mpletely so that he
can answer all quest"ons an know when thing a e going wrong
Iacono-4
(and 'ght). In the first rehearsal of a p'ece, the g oup
should read through the entire piece or large section to ga'n
the'r own familiarity with the also serves as a good
exercise in sight reading. por a c oral group, warm-up exercis-
es are important for attaining good balance, listen'ng to pitch
and producing overall good tone. Por an orchestra, a good
thing to start off w'th I ight be playing the sca e of the par-
icular key the iece is written in, The 0 chestra here can
check balance and tuning in thi way. These practic shave
been observed practices, either through my own association in
musical groups or by observing experienced conductors.
A ter the initial run-through. note and/or rhyth correc-
tions can then be made. The conductor should from the start,
..
insist on accurate pronunciation and skillful articulation
from his group. He should ind'cate clea, ogical musical
phrasing, correcting mistakes i b eathing or bowing. And he
hould strive fo attaining t e group's proper proportion and
balan e. Sect'onal rehearsal, separate from the main rehears-
als are sometimes necessary for particularly difficult sections
and will aid a certain segment of the group to the'r s c-
tion without osing time for the other players. Once the group
has been introduced to a piece and is u'te amil"ar w'th it.
they should watch the conductor ore and pay attention to the
subtleties of phras'ng and art'culat'on in the music and the
conductor's direction.
In my own experience with andling a group, I spent the
month of January working w'th twenty-two students forming a
c oral group. We prepared a program of Negro Songs and Sp'rit-
Iacono-5
uals. We rehearsed two hours a day, five days a week for fo r
weeks. During this time I realized the value of rehearsal time
and was able to apply the previous state e ts of rehearsals to
those sessions. Much time can be wasted "f attendence is low
and if parts aren't being learned. found that there was too
much t' e being spent lea n ng words, notes, and proper rhythms.
A c uple of days were spent in sectional rehearsal so that p rts
could be concent ated on and learned. One of the major d"f "-
culties was articulating the proper rhythms. many of which were
syncopated. T facilitate the learning of these rhythms, the
ract"ce of clapping and single-syllable verbalizat"on was em-
oyed. Eventua ly th
Q
proper notes, words and rhythms were
c h i e v e ~ ~ then were ready to face our b"ggest problem:
putting forth the energy to capture the proper "spirit" and
feeling 0 these hi hly spirited songs. During the last two
weeks 0 rehearsals, I stressed learning the music by memory
and the fact that the music would only come alive if the amount
o energy necessary as put into it. The rehearsals began to
show an "mprovement when the singers were able to watch me with
more at ention. ithout their heads buried in the music, there
was a def"nite response from e to the group and vice versa.
At the end 0 the month, the f"nal erformance was given with
muc succes , the necessary e ergy as well as the technical re-
quirements being present. This erfor ance also marked my ub-
lic presentation inthe Senior Scholars Program. (see rogram
attached--Appendix A)
ovement and ~ Patterns
Most of the time dur"ng the year was spent in racticing
---
Iacono-6
beat patterns and conducting gestures to portray eve y character
of the beat. The basic beat patterns must be learned to the -
po'nt 0 reflex act'on so that attent'on can be given to othe
things wh'ch call for it, such as cuing and dynamic indications.
Within a s ecific pattern like the four-beat pa tern are
types of beat'ng wh'ch the character of the beat. such as
the four- eat legato or four-beat staccato. Much of the first
semeste 's work involved becoming thououghly familiar with these
basic beat patterns and types of The c earest and
most seful text on this sUbject s ax Rudolf's Grammar of Con-
ducting. This p actice was late applied to conducting works
of scores studied for al the mbvements of cuing, dynamics, an
n cuing p ayers or singers. the conductor must
always be ahead at least one beat of the entrance n givin the
cue. Dynamics are indicated s'mply in the size of the beat, the
beat size changing in correspondence with the ynamic change--
iano. a small beat; forte, a large beat. The conductor must
be sure that all his movements are precise, efficient, and
clearly understood. The beat must clearly reflect the tempo,
character. and dynamics of the music. Excess motion is just as
bad as not enough direction. The and beat must alway
come from the center of the body, directing right in front 0
the body and fac'ng the group being directed at the pa ticular
t'me. WhOle a piece of music the c nductor must con-
stantly be ahead of himself and the p ayers, knowing ahead of
time what is coming so that he may be ready with the proper di-
rection When they have to play. When the group is supposed to
lay or sing off th beat, it is essential only to give a clear
Iacono-7
indication of the bea itself, allowing the players to do their
off-beat playing. Cut-offs and attacks must always be clear and
recise. At the beginning of any song or piece. the conductor
must have the entire group ready and at attention. then a clear
u - eat must be given to begin the music. Watching oneself in
front of a mirror will help the conductor see, in his private
practice. how clear he s in his move ents. Again, it must be
stressed that every movement us b clear and nderstood by the
players. A conductor m ~ develop his own "free" style which is
fi.e fo his wn roup if they understand him in hat way. ut
if a conductor 's to get up in front of any group, he should know
t ese basics discussed. so that he may be understood by any group.
Traits Necessary
I will conclude this report by l'stin the general traits
necessary 0 the conductor: a sound m scal scholarship 'n-
volvin a thorough knowledge of theory, harmony, conterpoint,
orches ration, and compostion. and a knowledge of the history
of mus'c, 'ts period and style characterist'cs; a good ear;
ability as a p"an'st and lor an intelligent command of the sing-
ing voice; sensitivity to music; a cornman of all movements in
clear. precis direction; ima inationr ra port ith performers;
a sense of humor: poise, based on solid knowledge and musical
ability; abi ity to make 0 eself unde stood; enthusiasm; and
last. but by no means least, patience.
Appendix B--Texts used
Bamberger, Carl,ed. The Conductor's Art. Yorks McGraw-
Hill Book Co., 19b5.
avison, Archibald T. Choral Conducting. Mass.
Harvard University P ess, 1950.
Decker, Ha 01 A and Herford, Jul"us, eds. Choral Conducting. o
Symposium. Englewood Cis,N. J., Pre tice- Ha
Inc 197).
Green, G"nnette. Modern Conducting. ew Yo ks Random House,
196).
Rudolf, Max. The Gram ar of Conducting. New York: G. Schrmer.
19500