Are you a GIFted conductor 3?
Are you a GIFted Conductor | MusicSpoke[/caption]
It’s been a while since I’ve helped the conducting world out by keeping you all informed about the conducting trends and latest and hippest gestures. I’ve continued my intensive research since the last time I posted, and I’m happy to report five new suggestions that I’ve discovered to help you improve your conducting.
#1 Try subtly alluding to the female figure
Alluding to the female figure
If you find your conducting is loosing its direction, and you just can’t seem to get up to the task, try subtly alluding to the female figure on beats three and four. The trick here is to be sure you are off the hips and moving toward second base before too far into beat three. I saw a conductor do this recently, and several members of the bass section actually looked up from their scores to pay attention.
#2 Combine your gym routine with your conducting
Calf raise combo
Do you need to work on your calf muscles and conduct a performance of Luigi Nono’s Como Una Ola De Fuerza y Luz? You could try a lifetime a musical study and a gym membership, but ain’t nobody got time for that. You’ll just wind up skipping leg day. If you are like most modern conductors, you’ve been losing the tone on your calves at the expense of your musicianship. Why not combine your conducting with calf raises? You don’t have to choose between your calves and your Nono.
#3 Add in some hip-hop flavor to make your conducting more relevant to the kids
Rapper’s delight
In a delightful new spin on the “Big Wheel Keep on Turning” gesture that will be familiar to all from the first post in this series, I recently witnessed a conductor making sure that this inscrutable means of communication would be relevant to a new generation by giving it a hip-hop edge. When it comes to remaining opaque, it seems that there are no lengths to which a conductor will not go.
#4 Feel free to use moves from Mixed Martial Arts
Left hand jab
This gesture is best explained by taking the Wikipedia article and adding the word trombone to it. “The jab is a straight blow delivered to the trombones (generally from a distance) with the arm above the lead foot … The punch is quick and explosive. This punch must land from the very tips of the knuckles and not from a flat fist. “ It is generally used for distraction, keeping distance, setting up, and defense against trombones.”
#5 Add a little elegance to your gesture
English Tea Drinker
I’m quite sure that when I was in England that I never saw anyone drink tea with a raised pinky. If you point your middle finger up in the U.S., it means something rude. If you point two fingers up in the U.K., it also means something rude. If you raise your pinky in the U.S., it means you are being British and elegant. I recently saw a conductor add the raised pinky to his gesture, and I immediately wanted a biscuit to go with my playing.
To see the other posts in the GIFted conductor series, click the links below.