In the theatre, it’s known that the best actors don’t really act. Rather, they inhabit a role so completely that it becomes a part of them. I believe that something like that occurs in conducting, where one has rehearsed an ensemble to such a fine edge that the singers no longer need us to conduct so much as we just nudge them along.
Today’s Conducting Study supports that idea. Notice that our colleague doesn’t provide a beat pattern, but he does set the tempo with a preparatory gesture that leaves no room to doubt the location of the pulse. He also invests energy in the shape of the phrase and provides facial animation that must surely serve to energize the singers.
Carl Smith says