I've just gone down a rabbit warren of googling about not mouthing words as a conductor, from the comment from your last interview - this is a totally new concept to me! How do you feel about it? Definitely resonates with me that it would lead to better listening (from the conductor's point of view).
Hi Phia - it's an interesting question. I think it depends...
I never sing while conducting - because this impacts how much I can hear of the singers.
I do however constantly mouth the words. I am trying to model vowels and space for the singers to imitate (with varying degrees of effectiveness...).
BUT most of the music I conduct is homophonic - i.e. everyone singing the same words at the same time - so me mouthing the words is not going to confuse anyone who's on different words. I'd think twice if I was conducting polyphonic music.
Also - lately the braces on my teeth have been cutting up the inside of my lips, which has become something of a deterrent to my mouthing of the words.
I've just gone down a rabbit warren of googling about not mouthing words as a conductor, from the comment from your last interview - this is a totally new concept to me! How do you feel about it? Definitely resonates with me that it would lead to better listening (from the conductor's point of view).
Hi Phia - it's an interesting question. I think it depends...
I never sing while conducting - because this impacts how much I can hear of the singers.
I do however constantly mouth the words. I am trying to model vowels and space for the singers to imitate (with varying degrees of effectiveness...).
BUT most of the music I conduct is homophonic - i.e. everyone singing the same words at the same time - so me mouthing the words is not going to confuse anyone who's on different words. I'd think twice if I was conducting polyphonic music.
Also - lately the braces on my teeth have been cutting up the inside of my lips, which has become something of a deterrent to my mouthing of the words.
Don Campbell would argue that if you want your singers to regard your conducting gesture more highly than what you do with your face, you should minimize how much you mouth the words - it is discussed a bit in this awesome video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQMp2jK99NY&t=1043s&pp=ygUWZGlyZWN0b3JzIHN0b3AgdGFsa2luZw%3D%3D