Stick Time: Conducting Study 8

Sometimes in a concert we want (desperately) for one selection to flow into another seamlessly, without  the knife of applause that severing performance energy and sonic cohesion.  Surely ALL of us have had an elegant transition diminished by a well-intentioned audience member who just HAD to clap their hands.

 

In today's conducting study, we observe a colleague navigating those waters (okay, let's be fair, the audience is a room full of choral conductors)  The challenge in such a moment is to simultaneously (1) release the final chord, (2) provide a preparatory gesture for the next entrance (in this case to the pianist), (3) transition between two different music styles, all while (4) holding the audience from applauding . . . and to do so elegantly.  Note too, that our colleague continues to show the vowel shape after the release, thus encouraging a release of sound, not simply a cut-off (there IS a difference).