Conducting Treatises and Deliberate Practice: An Enhanced Approach to the Pedagogy of Expressive Conducting

Orchestral conducting has often been viewed by its practitioners and commentators as an unteachable art, open to only the few born with an innate talent. These assumptions are challenged, however, by the body of conducting treatises, as these texts codify and teach conducting techniques, from technical beat patterns – the foundation of conducting – to expressive conducting techniques – the highest and most elusive level of the art. The treatises identify the left hand and arm (LHA) as a key contributor to an expressive performance, as it works to not only reinforce the expressive gestures of the right hand and arm, but can also be deployed independently for expressive effect. While individual treatises vary in the depth and quality of their pedagogical approach, when considered as a body, they represent an hitherto untapped resource, yet one which needs updating in line with recent educational developments.

This study investigates the 71 treatises published in English, or English translation, from 1855–2023, to discover their pedagogical approach to teaching the skills of expressive conducting, in particular LHA expressive gestures and the development of independence in both hands and arms (HA). No single treatise provides a complete overview of these skills and their pedagogical approach is often unconducive for optimal learning, therefore this project introduces a new training programme inspired by the treatises and enhanced by design features derived from the theories of deliberate practice. These theories were pioneered by Swedish psychologist K. Anders Ericsson and posit that expertise can be developed by undertaking iterative and increasingly difficult exercises over a long period of time. The training programme was tested out by a group of volunteers (N = 14) and a panel of experts (N = 3) assessed the difference between participants’ pre- and post-test performance. The experiment used a mixed-methods and triangulated approach to its methodology, including dividing the participants into treatment (n = 10) and control (n = 4) groups.

The outcomes of this study indicate that while all participants experienced improvement with their LHA expressive skills and HA independence, treatment group participants, who undertook the enhanced training programme, improved notably more. This result therefore contributes to a greater understanding of best practice in the teaching of LHA expressive conducting and HA independence, and further challenges the claim that conducting is an innate art. This result also reveals that despite individual treatises providing an incomplete overview of expressive conducting skills and lacking a contemporary pedagogical approach, when considered as a whole, and enhanced by deliberate practice features, the body of treatises are a significantly impactful resource for conductor training, and is therefore worthy of further study.