The Anatomy of Conducting
INTRODUCTION TO THE EXERCISES
As a conductor you have a lot of challenges when it comes to the use of arms, eyes and in general, the use of body language. Conducting Anatomy is a system that describes the use of your hands and arms in accordance with the actual music you are conducting. On one side you can beat through all the bars in a score, or on the other hand, you can reduce the number of beats to what is necessary in accordance with what happens in the music and dependent on what the musicians really need from you.
​
Conducting Anatomy helps you to immediately identify what beats are necessary and what you can leave out. Through these exercises, you will obtain a thorough conducting technique, which will help both you and your musicians to obtain common musical goals.
​
By having an excellent conducting technique, the musicians will have the pleasure of playing during a rehearsal instead of listening to a conductor, having to stop and talk because he or she is unable to show the music with gestures, eyes, and body language. Your rehearsal will be much more efficient, and the musicians will be more satisfied with their working situation. Of course, sometimes you would have to give oral instructions, but the aim would be to reduce the talking in order make music!
​
Conducting Anatomy rests on three fundamental aspects. The first is the aspect of aesthetical gestures. String players, and largely both wind players and choral singers will prefer responding to sideway movements instead of movements that mostly go up and down. There are various reasons for this:
​
1. Sideways movements support and initiate a good string sound, due to the similarity to down- and upbows.
2. It is easier for the musicians to identify the various beats in the bar when the conductor is beating sideways, especially for those sitting on the sides and those in the back.
3. Sideways movements emphasize the horizontal lines and support the phrasing of the music.
4. Sideways movements help the conductor in keeping low shoulders, which again helps the musicians keeping low shoulders!
5. Finally, sideways movements draw the attention to the energy between the beats, which is helpful for projecting the inner pulse of the music.
The second aspect is the use of” heavy/light arms”. Using the gravity is an aspect well known to pianists and string players among others and is an important element in obtaining an efficient conducting technique.
​
Through a set of” falling arms”- exercises, the arms will gradually become an integrated part of the conducting instrument, which in this context refers to the whole body, or everything you are in the moment
​
The third aspect is the number of beats that has to be beaten, or the disposition of beating according to the progression of the musical events in a piece. The anatomical system opens up for an instinctive understanding of what beats, or I would rather say entries, are necessary to give on one side and on the other side, where in the music the musicians would prefer to play on their own, without interference from the conductor’s beating. At the same time, the "side effect" of the "non-beating performance" implies an even clearer presence from the conductor. I will also get back to this in the description of the anatomical exercises.
DEFINITIONS
Conducting Anatomy uses definitions of the different beats in a bar:
​
1) Upbeat: The beat at the very beginning or before an event in the music, i.e., change of character, tempo, texture, orchestration, dynamics etc. With other words, an entry where the conductor’s attention would be beneficial or needed.
​
2) Stopbeat: A beat that releases the music in contexts where rigid time beating is not a necessity.
​
This applies for example to long notes and to established rhythmical patterns that omits the need for continuous time beating.
​
A stop beat may occur when a melodic rhythm or a rhytmical pattern is extended in time beyond the underlying pulse. Even if the movement of the hand then stops, the purpose is of course NOT to stop the music but to open up a space for the music to unfold. However, one sometimes has to make practical considerations as to whether a stopbeat is adequate and applicable to the actual musical context.
​
3) Passive beats: These are beats executed with wrists, and they appear between stopbeats and upbeats.
Example: If you conduct a whole note in a 4/4 bar, the first beat is a stopbeat, the second and third are passive beats and the fourth beat is the upbeat to the next bar.
INDEPENDENT HANDS
Conducting Anatomy will be demonstrated through the following exercises and the aim is to increase the ability to using the hands independently. By working through the exercises, the conductor increases the ability to use either stop beats, passive beats or upbeats anywhere in a bar, in whatever time signature, with either left or right hand.
​
Very often the conductor needs to give entries showing either a change of character, a new tempo, alteration of the dynamic level and so on. And this change might appear anywhere in a bar, not only at the beginning of a bar or at the start a new section. For instance, a dynamic change from p to ff in the horns on the second beat would benefit from a proper entry from the conductor. Having the horns to the left means helping the horns with the left hand. On the next beat the conductor might need to give the cellos an entry because of a character change, which can be done with the right hand.
This is a brief example describing a practical use of Conducting Anatomy, by dividing the bar between the left and right hand due to musical demands and placement of the different sections in the orchestra. In addition, by producing sideways gestures through the Conducting Anatomy, the beats will easily be identified by the musicians, even if you split the beating pattern between the left and the right hand. There is a clear progression from one exercise to the next and therefore, none of the exercises should be left out. Every exercise should be practiced thoroughly before moving to the next.
​
Beyond the practical application of the exercises through the cueing of musical changes, one should take into consideration the fact that both the left hand AND the right hand independently can carry and illuminate musical colors and qualities. It is as if both hands have their own separate lives, they have both an expressive capacity and an ability to support a wide tapestry of sound and character in a musical interpretation. Therefore, in many situations, conducting with one hand only is enough, and the conducting anatomy exercises enhances this important aspect.
Description and purpose of Anatomical exercises
The aim of the exercises is to prepare the conducting body, including the way you stand, the torso, the arms, hands, wrists and fingers to apply adequate movements to the musical contexts that occur during a piece, and many of the exercises are executed in combination with elements from the "falling arms" exercises. Therefore, some of the exercises produce gestures and movements that are not visually adequate and "playable" for an ensemble or an orchestra. One has to remember that these are exercises only.
In addition, the exercises manifest an inner system that helps the conductor to identify the musical events where clear beats are necessary, and where beats can and should be left out. The conductor should ask him or herself: When preparing and conducting a piece of music, who in the orchestra at any time would benefit from a helping hand of the conductor and where can the orchestra play on their own, without visual “interference” from the conductor.
The anatomy of conducting also reveals how to approach complex multilayered musical textures where conductors have to make a choice on what sections to address gesturally, and which musical elements in the texture to leave to themselves, in order to avoid getting in the way for the music and the musicians.
On a deeper level, the exercises have a definite purpose beyond their execution. The anatomy of conducting becomes an important tool in order to facilitate and establish an open space between the conductor and the orchestra, in which the musicians and the conductor communicate and take responsibility for the interpretation together.
The execution of the exercises
Exercise 1 and 2 should be executed with parallel hands. The reason for this is that both arms should establish a kinesthetic memory as a basis for the execution of the subsequent exercises. In exercise 3, 4 and 5 the arms will perform the same gestural movements, but independent of each other. However, Exercise 6, 7, 8 and 10 are performed with parallel hands. All the underlying pulses in the exercises are quarter notes. An exception is exercise 7, where the meter changes according to the time signature.
​
There is a red line through the exercises, and by assimilating and integrating the conducting anatomy into the conducting body, the conductor will not merely increase his or her ability to produce an adequate gestural representation of a musical performance but also enhance the projection and the non-verbal communication of the inner musical essence together with the musicians.
​
A crucial aspect to be mentioned is the presence of inner pulse. The moment the hands stop on for instance a halfnote, the inner pulse must be continuous, in order to secure the musical progression. This should be obvious of course, but my experience is that when students practice the stopbeats, the pulse tends to "slip out" of the students' inner counting and pace.
​This link also includes so called Fall exercises for conductors. These exercises work as a preparation for the anatomical exercises, in addition to being good warming up exercises for the conducting body. You will find a description of the exercises at from page 26 in this manuscript. In addition, you will find the description together with each exercise on Youtube.