ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how empirical studies in choral conducting have gone about the task of controlled, systematic research, and in particular what the conceptual bases are for their approaches. It begins with the question of model: when people think about conducting, what is the mental structure that they use to represent it to themselves? The chapter shows that why one of the two common models is overwhelmingly chosen in empirical conducting studies and the consequences of that choice for the results produced. There are two basic models for the conducting process: a signalling model and an interactive or ensemble model. The chapter argues that the shibboleths of objectivism are just as dangerous as the myths of artistic expertise, how one conceives the process of conducting is integrally related with the choices one makes in research design, and these decisions in turn affect what kind of knowledge the research can produce.
