A Conductors Guide For Beethovens Symphony No 4

Chapter Four presents a description of the musical events and the corresponding recommended expressive gestures. As a result of this chapter, the investigator has identified a list of basic musical and non-musical phenomena that should be transmitted by the conductor through expressive conducting gestures. In Chapter Five the investigator concludes that the choice of expressive gestures for a specific moment should depend on a combination of all basic musical and non-musical phenomena described previously. There is not one specific gesture for forte, for instance, but many possibilities depending on the musical context. However, there are gestural concepts that are common among accomplished conductors. Students are encouraged to create their own gestures in accordance with those concepts. This attempt to investigate music's expressive qualities through rational analysis and intuitive feeling should help conductors develop a vocabulary of conscious movements and some instinct for involuntary gestures. This approach hopefully will also develop a trend toward a more creative method for teaching conducting.