Conducting Study 12

The Baton.  Some conductors fear it.  Some wield it as though they are a samurai warrior.  While others of us are somewhere the middle.

 

Today, let’s observe a few seconds of a colleague using a baton.  Note initially that the energy in her right hand is at the very tip of the baton, thus the baton is functioning appropriately as an EXTENSION of the conducting arm, not as an accessory.  The energy in the left, then, can be relocated as desired from the extremes of fingertip to elbow.  It’s also instructive to notice that even in this short example, the two hands communicate both in unison and harmony.  That is to say sometimes thay are saying the same thing, other times they are functioning independently while still providing two sets of vital information.