Music conducting: classroom activities

Skills developed in conducting and following a conductor

• Music Appreciation - Understanding the purpose of conducting
• Music Skills and Concepts - Rhythm, Meter, Tempo, Steady beat
• Math Concepts - Counting, Grouping, Subdivision (in time) into Equal Parts (fractions)
• Physical Skills - Large Motor Coordination, Ear/Hand/Eye Coordination
• Social Skills - For the "conductor", leadership; for "musicians", following directions, paying attention, actively cooperating in a group

Materials and preparation

• You will need a place and time when your classroom can be noisy. Children like this exercise, but it's only fun if they can be loud.
• You will also need something that can be the "Conductor's Baton". A short pointer or long pencil (preferably not sharp) will do.
• Both conductor and musicians will need objects, at around belly height, to beat time on. Desks, chair backs, or stacks of books will do. Modern conductors do not ordinarily make an audible sound when they conduct. In the earliest days of the orchestra, however, conducting did often involve beating loudly on the floor with a stick, and conductors (particularly teaching conductors) will still beat time aloud if they feel the ensemble is not watching the beat closely enough. This type of conducting will be easier for young children to follow.
• Some of the activities will require the students to have various instruments. Percussion is easiest; use whatever is available - drums, hand cymbals, maracas, jingle bells - or make or improvise your own instruments. (See Percussion Fast and Cheap .)

Activities

Watching the conductor

Objectives

• The student who is designated conductor will improvise a simple clapped or conducted rhythm and perform it in such a way that it is easy to anticipate and follow.
• The other students will pay careful attention to the designated conductor, clapping or playing on a percussion instrument at the same time.

Procedure

1. Setup: All students should be standing facing the conductor, who is standing facing them. Any instruments they will need or objects they will be beating on with a baton should be in front of them, within easy reach, at about belly height.
2. For this exercise only, the conductor does not have to keep a steady rhythm. The conductor claps whenever he or she likes. Encourage surprising rhythms, but discourage the conductor from "faking out" the other students. A gesture that looks like the beginning of a clap should always be followed through with a clap. This is a cooperative game, not a competitive one. All the students - conductor and "orchestra" alike - should be praised when the claps all sound at the same time.
3. The other students watch the conductor closely, and try to make their clap sound at exactly the same time as the conductor's.
4. Point out how loud and impressive it is when all the claps sound together.
5. To prepare for the rest of the activities, you can repeat the procedure with all the students beating on something (producing an audible sound) with "batons", or with the conductor beating with a baton and the others clapping or playing drums, bells, etc. Batons should be in the right hand.