ABSTRACT

Rather like learning to swim, there is much that is natural about the activity, but there is much still to learn. In the same way that swimming can become more efficient, so conducting will benefit from being efficient. It may appear to some as if the book fails to provide hard-and-fast rules about conducting and singing. They would be correct. There is no absolute list of what to do and what not to do; there is no clear sequence offered of what conductors must do in a rehearsal, and there is no correct way of doing everything. Program planning is a major responsibility for conductors. A friend who conducts a highly successful choir in England mentioned recently how difficult he found it to program contemporary music, especially the more esoteric, less tonal works. Concerts that feature one or two large-scale choral works, maybe with orchestra, are easier to plan.