Choral conducting competences: Perceptions and priorities

Abstract

Choral conducting is a complex and multi-faceted leader role. Leading music is a particular kind of leadership through the prominence of gestural communication, and it is a ubiquitous phenomenon across a variety of social settings, musical genres, and ensemble types. Despite the variety, colloquial writing as well as academic research implicitly assumes that there is a common underlying competence base. Most research on conducting looks at a particular aspect, such as gestures, error correction, or rehearsing approach. What is largely wanting, is an overall view of how the competence elements come together and their relative importance. This article is an exploratory study of 17 competence elements, viewed by conductors in the context of their own practice. The study is based on a survey of 294 choral conductors across Norway, with a wide spread in terms of formal education, experience and working situation. The study supports previous research by how the role of conducting gesture takes a seemingly contradictory position; emblematic of the role, but still scores low in terms of importance. Our analysis shows that the views on key competence elements, such as gestural skills, vary with contextual factors, whereas other elements, such as error detection and rehearsal organisation, do not. The two contextual factors that explain most variation for several competence elements are the length of the conductor’s experience and the level (amateur/professional) of the conductor’s choirs. Conductors’ views on the importance of each competence element are closely related to their own competence level for the same element. This suggests that the prominence that competence elements are given in conducting practice is highly adaptable, as conductors cope with the situation at hand. Although an academic degree in conducting has an impact on how conductors view the various competence elements, practice and experience seem to rule over education.