Klarinet Archive - Posting 000513.txt from 2005/03

From: "David McClune" <dmcclune@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Conducting without a baton
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2005 23:32:21 -0500

(Hi Tony)

Batons do not make a conductor, but when taught how to use one, can be
helpful. Boulez and Mazur do not use batons yet are sought after
conductors. Hmm. A couple days ago, someone wrote about using dance
movements with conducting.

This is a little long; read at your own risk!

The dance movements of Laban when applied to conducting has nothing to
do with dancing...per say. It is using his ideas of emotionally charged
types of gestures which can assist a conductor to show the ensemble how
a passage might be played.

A movement breaks down into: space, weight, time and flow. You move
your left arm to cue softly and you use space to get the arm and hand to
cue the right person, the flow and weight of the movement provides the
articulation and dynamic and the time to get there is dependent on the
tempo of the piece as well as the articulation.

Laban goes further to describe 8 complimentary action movements:
Thrust, Float, Press, Flick, Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring. Some of these
motions coorelate easily to conducting. By teaching conductors to be
physically expressive, as done in dance and acting, the student
conductors think about emotion rather than one two three four, important
but not the primary purpose of conducting.

If a conductor can "show" the ensemble happy, staccato at P with a slow
crescendo to MF, and the ensemble has been trained to respond, then the
conductor does not have to stop the ensemble, describe the desired
changes, find a good starting place, and restart the flow of the piece.
The correction is done in real time.

However our traditional conducting classes teach patterns, a few
elevator crescendo and decrescendo motions and call it a semester. This
past term, my beginning conduting class (my first time to teach it) did
nothing but Laban for four weeks as well as various theater body
excercies. Then I taught them the 2, 3, 4 patterns in about 10 minutes.
Two days later they had to conduct a page of alternating meter changes
with a metronome. When they finished the assignment I reminded them
that that was what they had presumed conducting to be about...patterns!

Needless to say, it was a wild term.

Some universites are starting to use Laban concepts in their conducting
classes with very exciting results; expressive conductors rather than
egg beaters.

Good night!
Dave

Dr. David McClune
Professor of Woodwinds
Director of Bands
Union University-1862
1050 Union University Drive
Jackson, TN 38305

Office-731-661-5294
dmcclune@-----.edu
www.mcclunemouthpiece.com

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