"How does one learn to conduct? The current answer is 'By acquiring routine' – which means by being let loose, without technical knowledge, on works, orchestra, and audience, in order to acquire through 'experience', in the course of long years of anti-artistic barbarity, the tricks of the trade. Apparently there is no other course; one cannot train a conductor as one would a violinst – that is, until he has acquired perfect technique and is fit to appear in public"
The above statement, first made in 1933 yet still current, is often summarized proverbially as 'Conductors are born, not made.' Indeed, in this day of increasing sophistication among concert audiences and the cult of the 'star', one often hears comments about the technical ability of conductors. Yet good technique, while relatively easy to discern, is hard to define and even more difficult to teach.
In most instances textbooks on conducting demarcate the result of good technique, not necessarily how to obtain it. As a rule texts fall into two categories: those that explain how to prepare a conductor for the first rehearsal (beat patterns, seating plans, etc.); and those which explain what to do during rehearsal (balance among parts, for example). Characterized by an abundance of prose, the former bring to mind Stoessel's comment:
"One might read all about the art of swimming and yet be entirely lost the first time one is actually thrown into the water.”
Elmer Bueno says