Technique 2
2.1 Active & Passive Beats
An active beat is one which is intended to generate a response. This can be as basic as knowing when to play, or it can be information about dynamics, articulation, change of tempo or many other things. A passive beat is one which is intended to give information, but not to result in an immediate response.
A good example is the number of preparatory beats the conductor indicates before the music begins. As a starting point, we should aim to give only one gesture as this will often prevent confusion - the more we do, the more chance there is that someone will misunderstand us - and prevents the impression that we are micro-managing or don’t trust the musicians. However, in many cases we will need to give more information than that, usually to help the musicians be clearer about the tempo. This can simply be because the tempo is quick: once you get faster than around 120 beats per minute, there will often not be enough time for everyone’s brain to compute the tempo with sufficient certainty.
Therefore, the conductor will need to give 2 preparatory gestures. This spells danger! The way to avoid any accidents is to make sure that only the last gesture before the musicians play is active. Everything before that should be passive. One way to think about the difference is that an active gesture begins with a noticeable impulse, a passive gesture does not.
Watch this short video which has a couple of examples of a passive first beat, followed by an active second beat.
The most extreme example of this is the famous opening to Beethoven’s Symphony No.5.
If Beethoven had written the one on the left there would be no problem - the conductor gives a nice energetic impulse and the orchestra plays one measure after that impulse. However, of course he wrote the one on the right!
The combination of the music being in one, together with the eighth note rest, creates fabulous possibilities for confusion! When the conductor gives an active impulse should the orchestra play after an eighth note, or after one measure plus an eighth note? Orchestras are often forced to take matters into their own hands and make that decision for themselves!
The trick is to make sure there is no impulse at the beginning of the preparatory beat - this prevents anybody jumping in early. You could think of this as pulling a catapult rather than bouncing a ball. The tempo can still be communicated, and the active impulse that comes with the next gesture tells the orchestra to start. In this video the conductor gets it wrong the first time, and right the second time!
A further area where passive beats can be useful is in marking silence. Conductors must always remember that (with the exception of choirs) the players don’t usually have the score. Their own individual part is unlikely to tell them whether rests are for everybody, or just them or their section. Quite literally, it can sometimes be difficult to know which measure you are in. It is generally good practice to indicate rests with passive beats. A good example of this is in operas or concerti. If the soloist has four measures to play or sing with no accompaniment, the conductor might show four passive downbeats to indicate the geography. This doesn’t need to be done in tempo or with whoever is singing or playing, it is purely practical information.
In this extract from Verdi’s Overture to La forza del destino the notation is potentially confusing. After the fermata bar, anyone not playing the melody could be in doubt as to whether that begins in the upbeat to the Andantino, or the upbeat to the following bar. In the video you’ll see that the conductor makes this clear by passively indicating beats 1 & 2 before giving a more active gesture on the third eighth note to instigate the entrance.
2.2 The problem of conducting in 2, and simple & compound patterns.
Conducting in 2 is much more difficult than in 3, 4 or more because of the potential for problems caused by too much rebound in the beat. Think back to the exercise in the Technique 1 chapter where we gave the analogy of bouncing a tennis ball on the ground. That feeling of releasing the ball is useful in preventing the beat from rebounding too much. If there is too much rebound, it is easy to end up back where you started and so by definition beats 1 and 2 appear identical – not helpful! Here’s a video demonstrating this – notice how it is particularly unclear from the side when there is too much rebound.
There is an important general point here: it is much easier to be clear to people who are in front of you, those to the side have a much harder job. Keep this in mind, and it’s a good idea to sometimes film yourself in rehearsal from the side to check on this. Experienced string players will tell you that the hardest place to sit in the orchestra is the outside corners – where you might find desk four or five of the 1st violins or the double basses.
When the beat is staccato, this should be less of a problem as the beat should start and stop at each ictus. If the character is legato, think of a more horizontal gesture: come down and out for beat 1 and back in and up for beat 2. The more expressive the music, the more horizontal and less vertical you can be. An expansive horizontal gesture can look very expressive, whereas a similarly sized vertical beat will probably look a bit ridiculous. If you think about it, you are now simulating the physicality of playing legato on a string instrument: this is a powerful and highly communicative image, even for non-string players.
Another image that might help is that of a pendulum, and this can be particularly useful if the meter is compound, for example in 6/8 rather than 2/4 or 2/2. The more curved shape of a pendulum can convey the feeling of the beat having 3 parts to it, but the most important thing is to have this subdivision in your mind. If you are thinking of a triple feel, it will naturally come out in your physicality.
In Technique 1, the workbook excerpt of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Overture dealt with a staccato 2/4 in a nice brisk tempo. The following excerpts demonstrate more expressive music, firstly in alla breve time, then in 6/8.
Workbook 4 – Dvorak – Symphony No.8, 1st movement
Workbook 5 – Mussorgsky – ‘The Old Castle’ from Pictures at an Exhibition
2.3 Conducting in 1
If conducting in 2 is difficult, then conducting in 1 must be even harder? Well, in a way not really: at least the players won’t get confused wondering which beat is which as they are all 1! The big challenge here is creating variety in what you do. At least with a 4/4 pattern you have four different directions to go in, so it is easier to create a sense of direction and journey. When in 1, we have to work a little harder at this.
One solution is to use space: larger and smaller beats will give a sense of rise and fall in the phrase. In the previous section we talked about active and passive beats, and of course this is a continuum: increasing and decreasing the amount of energy in the impulse also creates variety. We also have another dimension available to us: in addition to horizontal and vertical, we can move our hands forwards and backwards. Moving forwards away from our body can give a sense of going towards a destination and retreating backwards releases the energy.
What we wouldn’t recommend is beating out a four-measure phrase as a pattern of 4, or a three-measure phrase in 3, etc. If the composer had wanted 12/8 instead of 4 x 3/8, they would probably have written that. On occasions it may be helpful though. A good example is the famous 11/4 measure in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. If the conductor beats 8 downbeats and then a 3/4 pattern this is very helpful to the musicians from a practical point of view. It can even save a disaster if the conductor miscounts and makes it 10/4 or a 12/4!
A lot of music that is conducted in 1 is in triple time: waltzes in 3/4, scherzos in 3/8 and so on. When the groove is 3 inside 1, a circular beat is very helpful. The advantage of a circle is that the players can see a journey with a destination, so it is easier to predict where the next beat will be than if the conductor gives a succession of vertical downbeats. Watch this short video and note how although the circle is continuous, the speed of motion isn’t constant. There is acceleration towards the bottom of the circle and then deceleration after it. In other words, gravity plays a part. As the acceleration increases, the musicians will articulate the note on the bar line more strongly. This sense of acceleration towards the beat is crucial at all times, and particularly easy to see in this context.
Now look at the next two Workbook excerpts. The first one is in quite a quick tempo and the rhythm of the accompaniment is not so simple. Therefore, the conductor is very consistent with the beats, and whilst she shows the dynamics, not too many risks are taken. In the Shostakovich, the music is much more straightforward – the classic “oom-cha-cha” waltz accompaniment. This means the ensemble relies less on the conductor to stay together and so he can be much more flexible. You can also tell that he is thinking of the four-measure phrase, even though he doesn’t mark this in a 4/4 pattern.
Workbook 6 – Hesketh – ‘Catching of Quails’ from Danceries
Workbook 22 – Shostakovich – ‘Waltz 2’ from Jazz Suite No. 2
2.4 Starting on beats other than 1
So far, all the Workbook excerpts have begun on the first beat of the measure. Therefore, the active preparatory gesture that generates the sound is the last beat of whichever time signature the music is in. Because the last beat always goes up, it will essentially always be the same gesture regardless of whether you are beating in 2, 3, 4, 7, 11 or whatever.
However, not all music begins on the first beat of the measure. In the next excerpt, the music starts on beat 2 so the preparatory gesture becomes beat 1. The tempo is slow, so there is no need for an additional gesture. This means the first active movement is downwards – this is quite difficult to do as we are so used to going up before coming down! This excerpt is also a good exercise in conducting quiet, still music. Notice how the conductor conveys this with gestures that are small and contain very little vertical movement. When you have had a couple of goes at this, try seeing how softly you can get the musicians to play, especially if you have the chance to try it with string players. The softer you get with your hands, the more important it is to remember to breathe.
Workbook 8 – Shostakovich – Symphony No.5, 3rd movement
The next excerpt is in 4/4 time and starts on the third beat. The tempo is allegro so the conductor gives a passive beat 1 and a more active beat 2. Being clear is important here, because this music doesn’t look like it sounds: if you know it but have never seen it written down you might be surprised that the phrase begins on beat 3 – it feels like beat 3 should be beat 1.
Workbook 9 – Bizet – Prelude from L’Arlésienne Suite No.1
There is another version of this excerpt which explores how to conduct this same music with a staccato articulation, and then change from legato to staccato and vice-versa. Notice how the conductor changes the articulation in her gesture one beat before she wants the musicians to change. Remember: every gesture should influence something that will happen after that gesture. If that isn’t the case, the conductor is co-ordinating rather than leading.
Now let’s look at a March by Gustav Holst which is in alla breve time, starting on the second beat. The conductor places her baton higher up than normal in order that the preparatory gesture is a decisive downwards motion. Something else to look out for in this excerpt is the accents. The conductor uses her left hand to prepare and indicate each of the three accents, not using her left hand for the other beats.
Workbook 10 – Holst – Suite No.1 in Eb, 3rd movement
Finally in this section, here’s an excerpt where the music begins off the beat. Usually, unless the tempo is very slow, two preparatory beats will be necessary. You’ll see a positive but still quite passive downbeat followed by quite an energetic beat 2 for the melody line to bounce off. Watch how the conductor shows the many different articulations in this excerpt – legato, staccato, tenuto and accent. Try practising this excerpt in a very slow tempo and really exaggerating those different articulations.
Workbook 11 – Grainger – ‘The Brisk Young Sailor’ from Lincolnshire Posy
2.5 Summary
In this section we have:
● Looked at the importance of active & passive beats, how differentiating between them helps to prevent confusion for the musicians, and how they can be used to show rests and in accompanying soloists
● Explored the challenges of conducting in 2 and in 1, and how to avoid potential problems caused by too much rebound in the beat
● Seen the importance of being clear for the musicians to the side of you, as well as those in front
● Looked at how to start pieces which don’t begin on the first beat of the measure
● Begun to explore giving information about articulation in gestures
