ABSTRACT
Making music is saturated with meaning and musical meaning is multi-layered, ranging from the intra-musical significance of acoustical features or musical form to the emotional, social and spiritual dimension of engaging with music. Music also has the ability to mirror fragments of human life, and is therefore a conduit between individual lifeworlds. In the best of musical moments, when all the various elements of conductor mastery come together, the conductor can enable an intersubjective space—a level of ensemble communication and cohesion with transcendent qualities. Given the multitude of meanings involved in ensemble music-making, the conductor is in a unique position to make sense from and for the ensemble. As an aesthetic practice, there is no single ‘right’ sense in a musical expression or an ensemble situation. Choral singers are therefore quite generous about accepting varying approaches to musical leadership.
