Chapter 7
Coaching Notes
Video 7.1
Wandering on the Podium
Transcript
Wandering on the Podium
- Wandering on the podium, or excessive stepping, is often a result of limiting movement in the Movable-Masses, legs and feet
- If the body is not available to shift weight to counterbalance the weight of the arms, it will instinctively reposition the feet to avoid falling over
- If soft feet and availability are allowed, the body coordinates and counterbalances itself naturally, maintaining its balance without repositioning the feet
- While these examples have been exaggerated for demonstration purposes, even slight movements of the arms are enough to encourage stepping if the body is locked
- To experience the body's ability to counterbalance itself, try this simple exercise
- Lock your feet and ankles and swing the weight of your arms from side to side
- Now, try it with soft feet and allow your Movable-Masses to follow the momentum of your arms
- Allowing these counterbalancing motions lessens the subconscious drive to step because the body is constantly coordinating
- While occasional steps are perfectly fine, applying this concept to your conducting can help to ensure that stepping does not become habitual
Video 7.4
Hands and Arms in Relation to the Torso
Transcript
Hands and Arms in Relation to the Torso
- A common issue among many conductors is to allow their pelvis to rock forward of the line of gravity
- To compensate for this imbalance, the elbows and upper torso drop back in order to keep the body from falling over
- This results in the elbows being located near the center of the side of the body, along the inseam of many shirts
- Consequently, this limits movement in the Torso-Arms and makes it difficult for the arms to cross the body from side to side
- Pushing the arms forward to correct the problem will only result in more weight being in front of the line of gravity
- However, if the feet and ankles are allowed to be soft, the pelvis will likely move toward the line of gravity all by itself
- As the pelvis moves backward, the Movable-Masses are now able to effectively counterbalance the weight of the arms in front of the body and coordinate with the gesture
Video 7.5
Sound in the Tip of the Baton
Coffee Cup Analogy
Transcript
Sound in the Tip of the Baton
Coffee Cup Analogy
- When gesturing with or simply using ours hands in everyday life, motion tends to be lead into action by the fingertips
- When reaching for a cup of coffee, for example, the fingers point in the direction of the cup and lead the arm into motion
- We would never instigate this motion by first pushing our wrist toward the cup, leaving our fingers to trail behind
- In this first example, the intention to pick up the cup goes all the way to the fingertips
- In the second example, the intention to pick up the cup did not make it past the wrist
- When conducting, the same principle applies to the tip of the baton. Allowing your focus and your intentions to include the tip will allow the tip to lead the motion
- (Slow motion)
- (Real time)
- If your focus and your intentions do not include the tip of the baton, your wrist will lead and pull the fingers and baton behind
- (Slow motion)
- (Real time)
- While this may occasionally be useful to convey a very specific musical intention, its overuse leads to a general lack of specificity in the tip of the baton and to tension in the wrist
- Intention to the tip = Greater specificity at the tip
- Intention stopping at wrist = Less specificity at the tip
Video 7.6
Moving Your Center in Relation to the Tip of the Baton
Transcript
Moving your Center in Relation to the Tip of the Baton
- How your center (dantian) moves in relation to the tip of the baton can help to influence musical line, contour and weight
- If your primary concern is to communicate line and/or contour, the tip of the baton will instigate the movement and will pull your center along for the ride
- The tip of the baton initiates the motion
- Then the center follows, allowing the Movable-Masses to counterbalance the weight of the arm
- If your primary concern is to communicate weight, your center and the tip will initiate the movement simultaneously
- Line/Contour - tip initiates movement, followed by center
- Weight - tip and center initiate movement simultaneously
- You might consider these options as existing on a continuum
- More often that not, you will be somewhere in between the two, using a combination of movements from the tip and from your center to create an infinite number of variations of weight, line and contour
Video 7.10
Unwanted Looping of the Baton
Transcript
Unwanted Looping of the Baton
- Some conductors develop an unintended and habitual loop or flourish in their beat pattern when the baton is beating time and moving to the right, away from the center of the body
- For ease of discussion, lets consider this using beat three of a traditional 4/4 pattern
- Note the looping motion on beat three
- While the simple solution seems to be to just stop looping, the subconscious drive to loop may be the result of being slightly out of balance
- The location of this beat is usually the furthest from the center of your body
- Depending on how far to the right you place the beat, it may be just enough to change the distribution of weight in your body
- If your feet are not soft and your Movable-Masses are not available, you will be slightly out of balance and holding your body still
- If you unlock your feet, ankles and hips your body will likely move to the right all by itself to counterbalance the weight of the arm
- The resultant stillness and tension in the body from not allowing this subtle shift in weight can cause other parts of the body to lock and may contribute to the unwanted looping
- Allowing for soft feet and availability in the Movable-Masses will alleviate this tension
- This may be enough to eliminate or greatly reduce the subconscious drive to create this looping motion