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What is the greatest single error a band director can make?
 

Suggested Readings

1. Rehearsal Rooms

Struggling to improve the acoustics in your band room? Check out how the Medan Band did it.

2. Concerned about playing swing music properly?

Check out my guidelines

3. Ear training exercises for bands

Unlike piano players, ear training is essential for wind band performers. But how many band directors bother to give their bands suitable exercises?

4. Intonation problems

While tuning is simple act of adjusting a length of tubing on a wind instrument (often by reference to a single note), intonation is an ongoing process in which a player strives to match the pitch of others in the ensemble during performance. 

5. “Blowing” a wind instrument

A common misconception among wind players is to believe that the air moves through the instrument in order to produce the sound. This is simply not true. 

6. Conducting – suggestions for home practice

The best way for a conductor to improve is in front of a live ensemble. The unfortunate reality, however, is that this is not always possible. Aspiring conductors therefore have little choice but to find other ways of honing their skills.

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Home Educational Resources Conducting Left & Right Hands
The functions of the left and right hands PDF Print E-mail
Conducting
Written by Bruce Gale   
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T
he primary function of the right hand is to beat time, while the role of the left hand is to portray or highlight in some way the expressive qualities of the music. [There is considerable debate about whether left-handed conductors should be permitted to reverse this distinction.]

 
One hand should not habitually imitate the other.
 
These two functions are not mutually exclusive, however.  The right hand, for example, can indicate dynamics (by varying the size of the beat) and musical style (by varying the shape and weight of the beat).  Similarly, the left hand may sometimes be employed to help performers deal with an accent, an accelerando or the beginning or ending of a phrase.   Even so, it is important to keep the functions of the two hands separated as much as possible.  A situation in which one hand habitually duplicates the actions of the other negates this distinction and both the conductor and the ensemble will be the poorer because of it.


 

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