Usually, the choral conductor is a good musician and knows his musical subject matter thoroughly. Through the process of much careful rehearsing and teaching, he succeeds in imparting his ideas of interpretation to his chorus, which in turn comes to understand the meaning of his gestures. Up until the first orchestral rehearsal, which is usually the only one, everything goes smoothly; but as soon as the highly trained and sensitive orchestra tries to follow the conductor’s beat, a state of utter chaos ensues. Much time is wasted, the conductor becomes irritable, the chorus demoralized, the orchestra scornful, and in general the outlook for a successful concert begins to look very black. Finally, the more practical side of the orchestra rises above the disgruntled and disillusioned attitude and it rescues the situation by playing more in spite of the conductor rather than because of him. This picture is not exaggerated and has almost a universal application. The author, in his orchestral playing days, has witnessed such scenes not only in the United States but also in France and Germany, and has been told by competent authorities that the same conditions exist in England. In fact, this little tale is one that will be verified by almost every experienced orchestral musician.
The cause of much of this ineffective conducting is a profusion of vague, meaningless (to the orchestral player) gestures on the part of the choral conductor, who has gotten into the habit of making many motions because of certain conditions peculiar to choruses and choral music. First of these conditions is the average chorus member’s rather low standard of musical ability, (in comparison with the professional orchestra) which causes the conductor to lead his charges through intricate rhythmical mazes by indicating every 32d note and beating out the melodic contour rather than giving the basic beats and subdivision of the beats. Secondly, the conductor usually has the assistance of a good accompanist who plays the piano arrangement of the orchestral score so efficiently that the conductor ceases to even think about it, and who provides a firm rhythmical background by crisp and incisive marking of the main beats of the measure. Naturally, the conductor cannot change the habits acquired during many weeks of rehearsal and when he finally finds himself in front of the critical professional orchestra, he is confronted with the task of leading this complicated organization with gestures engendered by the peculiar weaknesses of his choral body and which are totally confusing to the strange orchestra.
There is only one remedy for this condition. Directors of choruses must remember that essentially there is no difference between orchestral conducting and choral conducting, although there is a vast difference between orchestral and choral training and rehearsing. It is not necessary to give the chorus a special gesture for each 32d note of the melodic line. Chorus members will give a rhythmical performance of a work only when they are made to feel the main pulsations of the movement, and this can be accomplished only by using such established gestures which clearly mark the fundamental rhythm. Naturally, such gestures will easily be understood by the orchestral musicians as well as by the chorus singers. Of course, this refers definitely to the conducting of combined orchestral and choral forces. The conducting of part songs accompanied or unaccompanied calls for a somewhat different treatment.
In A Capella music, the conductor usually dispenses with the baton in order to gain more expressive freedom of both hands. In comparison with a choral-orchestral composition, these part songs and polyphonic choruses have but few individual parts and the conductor is not so much concerned with the actual beating of time as with the subtle indication of interpretative shades and meaning. Nevertheless, the author believes that the fundamental gestures are a sufficiently comprehensive basis for the most expressive type of conducting.
It is not the purpose of this chapter to enter into the details of choral training and interpretation. Those subjects have been admirably treated by other writers and for the chorus master seeking truly authoritative advice in these matters, the following books are recommended:
- Coward—Choral Technic and Interpretation (Novello)
- Russell—English Diction (Ditson)
- Henderson—The Singer’s Art.
- Mees—Choirs and Choir Music
- Schweitzer—Bach
- Newman Flower—Handel
- Pyne—Palestrina
- D’Indy—Beethoven
- Prunieres—Monteverdi
The last five give invaluable hints on the proper interpretation of the works of their respective subjects.
For teaching a chorus sight singing and proper vocal habits:
- Friedlander-Davison—Choral Exercises (Peters Ed.)
- Stainer—Choral Society Vocalization (Novello)
- Graveure-Treharne—Superdiction (G. Schirmer)
This last gives the conductor highly valuable suggestions of methods to obtain correct and effective diction.