This is harder than it sounds because attention is divided among many things (beat geometry, music, score reading, cues, imagined ensemble performance, etc.) that can cloud whether tempo is changing, and we can easily imagine a stable pulse even as the ictus begins to wander from the starting tempo. A few of the reasons for…
When you are standing on the podium and you tell an ensemble, through your nonverbal communication, about the tempo, the character, the style and how they should enter the ensemble looks to you for a preparatory gesture. This is the motion that immediately preps the ensemble to give them all they need to play on….
One common problem among beginning conductors is an unclear, or absent ictus. The ictus is the small moment in which the beat of the pattern changes directions. It serves as a visual marker that tells musicians the specific moment at which a beat will occur, which gives the entire group a pulse. Without a distinct…
Try the same pattern once without the baton and once with it, but your pattern should be the same in its structure and clarity. It is tempting, when beginning to learn the four beat pattern, to make your gestures as wide and large as possible to ensure that your beats are visible. This is a…
