Conducting as a Language of Communication
Aubrey Kistler
Dr. Dennis Shrock
Choral Conducting
3 September 2013
Conducting, as a Language of Communication
Peter Drucker states, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said,” exhibiting the significance of the relationship between the sender and the receiver. Conducting, like all other types of communication, have aspects that express something to someone or a group of people, without using verbal communication. Conductors use different gestures, facial expressions, and posture to communicate to an ensemble, and in return get the appropriate response and feedback.
Having a strong posture is key to communicating through conducting. Your arms should be parallel to the ground, elbows away from your sides, and hands tilted up so that the ensemble can see your palms, to create a clear line of communication between the conductor and the ensemble. Although these aspects of posture are important, the most significant feature is to keep your fingers relaxed, and the middle part of the fingers parallel to the floor. When the fingers are constantly parallel to the ground, the communication between the conductor and ensemble is consistent. While posture is significant in the communication process, gestures help create emotion.
Gestures give off emotions that help the ensemble illustrate the music. Conductors give the ensemble nonverbal cues with our arms. For example, when your arms are closer to your body, there is singularity and better communication. Therefore when we want our ensemble to be more intense with their sound, we conduct closer to the body by showing that we have more control over the sound that the choir is producing. Additionally, when the hands are closer to the body it gives the conductor more room to move and extend the arms to produce different sounds, while at the same time, keeping the ensemble engaged. The movement of the arms gives the ensemble prompts to either present louder, softer, intense, or relaxed
Dr. Dennis Shrock
Choral Conducting
3 September 2013
Conducting, as a Language of Communication
Peter Drucker states, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said,” exhibiting the significance of the relationship between the sender and the receiver. Conducting, like all other types of communication, have aspects that express something to someone or a group of people, without using verbal communication. Conductors use different gestures, facial expressions, and posture to communicate to an ensemble, and in return get the appropriate response and feedback.
Having a strong posture is key to communicating through conducting. Your arms should be parallel to the ground, elbows away from your sides, and hands tilted up so that the ensemble can see your palms, to create a clear line of communication between the conductor and the ensemble. Although these aspects of posture are important, the most significant feature is to keep your fingers relaxed, and the middle part of the fingers parallel to the floor. When the fingers are constantly parallel to the ground, the communication between the conductor and ensemble is consistent. While posture is significant in the communication process, gestures help create emotion.
Gestures give off emotions that help the ensemble illustrate the music. Conductors give the ensemble nonverbal cues with our arms. For example, when your arms are closer to your body, there is singularity and better communication. Therefore when we want our ensemble to be more intense with their sound, we conduct closer to the body by showing that we have more control over the sound that the choir is producing. Additionally, when the hands are closer to the body it gives the conductor more room to move and extend the arms to produce different sounds, while at the same time, keeping the ensemble engaged. The movement of the arms gives the ensemble prompts to either present louder, softer, intense, or relaxed