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.

Acquiring the Art of Conducting: Deliberate Practice as Part of Professional Learning

“…Practicing baton techniques and conducting patterns were especially important at the beginning of the professional career, but they required less attention once the conducting patterns were mastered, freeing up more time to invest in refining other activities, such as score reading. This finding concurs with previous research about gestural skills of choral conductors, who classify them as not very important (Jansson et al, 2021). An alternative explanation might be the rising effectivity of practice processes that allows students to invest less time in these activities (Miksza, 2007).…”

The Discursive Terms of Music/Teacher Education at Four Higher Educational Institutions

“…Det empiriske materialet er hentet fra tre av forfatternes tidligere gjennomførte studier med tilhørende datasett: A) «Utdanningsstudie»: Kartlegging av skandinavisk korlederutdanning hvor dokumentanalyse og intervjuer av laerere og nyutdannede dirigenter utgjorde datagrunnlaget (Jansson, Balsnes & Bygdéus, 2018). B) «Kompetansestudie»: Kvantitativ spørreundersøkelse hvor 685 norske, svenske og tyske kordirigenter deltok (Jansson, Elstad & Døving, 2019a;Jansson, Elstad & Døving, 2019b). C) «Karrierestudie»: Intervjustudie av tjue norske kordirigenter (Jansson & Balsnes, 2020).…”

“…Utvalget ble deretter utvidet med 344 svenske og 47 berlinbaserte respondenter. Utvidelsen gjorde det mulig å undersøke om det var variasjoner mellom land, og å foreta mer detaljerte statistiske analyser (Jansson, Elstad & Døving, 2019b). Denne undersøkelsen refereres til som «kompetanseundersøkelsen» og materialet kalles datasett B .…”

Korlederens kompetanse, utdanning og praksis – konturene av en meta-teori

“…Visse aspekter er isteden konseptualisert som distinkte lederstiler, for eksempel autentisk ledelse (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999;Gardner et al, 2011;Ladkin & Taylor, 2010) og tjenende lederskap, som legger vekt på altruisme og hengivenhet til ensemblet (Beck et al, 2014;Wis, 2002). For dirigentrollen, imidlertid, viser studier at disse trekkene er helt avgjørende og til dels viktigere enn de tekniske og mellom menneskelige ferdighetene (Jansson, 2019;Jansson et al, 2019a). For dirigentrollen kan de ikke reduseres til en stil, de er alltid naervaerende forutsetninger og må derfor betraktes som en grunnkompetanse.…”

“…To av våre studier har forsøkt å bygge bro mellom rollens enkeltheter og det helhetlige blikket. Tilnaermingen har vaert å analysere den relative betydningen av ulike kompetanse-elementer og dirigenters selvopplevde mestring av disse (Jansson et al, 2019a(Jansson et al, , 2019b. Et sentralt funn, og et av utgangspunktene for denne artikkelen, er at det i noen grad er et misforhold mellom dirigentenes kompetansevurdering og innholdet i utdanningene, og at praksis ofte overskygger utdanning.…”