Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make… They’ll Be Watching You! Thomas McCauley John J. Cali School of Music, Montclair State University Mccauleyt@mail.montclair.edu
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f we choose to view it as such, working with students in a large ensemble setting can be the ultimate—and even most intimate—form of musical communication. When we truly listen to our ensemble, we stand to learn a great deal about them, and gain even greater insight into ourselves. In my work with young, graduate student conductors, I am often asked during a lesson, “What should I do during this passage of the music?” Invariably, my response is “If you just listen to them, your students will tell you exactly what they need from you.” As ensemble leaders, we have great influence on those we are responsible for teaching. And, if we are open enough, those we teach can, in turn, influence us. Still, even in the most democratic of rehearsal atmospheres, an ensemble cannot help but reflect the musical and technical priorities of its conductor. So, if we as conductors are truly “in tune” with the sounds our groups make, and with the individual people who make those sounds, we stand to better understand our own strengths and weaknesses as musicians, teachers, and conductors and, moreover, as human beings. This communal approach to teaching-and-learning and rehearsing requires, however, that conduc-
tors be aware of and open to the idea that, quite often, what we give from the podium is exactly what we get from our ensemble. The ability of a teacher-conductor to connect with the members of an ensemble is directly related to several factors, the most important of which is a leader’s musicianship. Even armed with the most effective rehearsal strategies and a sincere intent, a teacher-conductor is still extremely limited without the ability to “hear” ideal versions of a score and, at the same time, compare those ideal versions to the actual sounds being produced by student musicians. It is then, and only then, that the teacher-conductor can begin the process of bringing the actual sound as close to the sound of the “ideal” as is possible. When a teacher-conductor possesses a loud, strong, inner version of the piece being rehearsed, born from many hours of study and preparation, miraculous things can happen, even with the most inexperienced groups. Another factor in helping create a community of intimate, spontaneous, communicative music making with an ensemble is connected to the way the teacher-conductor moves on the podium. Although some teacher-conductors are able to produce acceptable sounds from their groups in spite of the manner in which they
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move on the podium, most are not. When every conducting gesture has meaning, and is motivated by either ideal inner hearing or the actual sounds, those gestures can become extremely potent. In everyday life, it is often not difficult to separate people who really mean what they say from people who don’t. The same holds true for any and every conducting gesture. A conducting gesture absent of meaning not only limits the process of improvement, it also teaches the ensemble to treat you as one would treat someone who talks a lot, but rarely means anything they say. Additionally, it teaches the ensemble to treat you as someone who talks a lot, but rarely listens in conversation. Meaning comes from depth, and depth comes from experience, and experience is born from hard work. I rarely teach specific conducting gestures in my work with young teacher-conductors. Instead, I teach the importance of listening and reacting to sound, both internal and external. I help teacher-conductors to allow the body to move in ways that will help bring together the internal and external sounds in harmony with the meanings being made in the music making moment. Most teacher-conductors are oblivious to the many and varied ways in which they influence their JANUARY 2019
