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When people think of conducting a choir, they think first of the hands: the beating of time in front of the choir. That is the level you notice when you glance into a rehearsal, and the level most beginning conductors train first. But it is only the most visible level, not the most important one. Great choir conducting comes from the interplay of several levels, most of which have nothing to do with the hands at all, but with the ear, the sound in the room, and the way you le

If you already know the three basic patterns — the 2, the 3, and the 4 — there's still one missing, and I deliberately saved it for its own post: the 6. Because the 6 is a special case. The 6 is the only pattern that puts you in front of a real decision. Not "how do I conduct it," but "do I even conduct it as a six, or completely differently." And that's exactly where most people get tangled up at the start. Let's untangle it here, with three cases that come up constantly in

When you start conducting, there's really only one thing you want to know: how do I move my hand so the choir knows where the beat is. And then you find fifteen tutorials online, each showing you fifteen slightly different versions, and by the end you're more confused than before. So let's clean this up. The three beat patterns you actually need to get started: the 2-beat, the 3-beat, and the 4-beat pattern. For each one, I'll also show you the mistake almost everyone makes a

From sectional rehearsal to voice crossing. The language in which rehearsals are organized and discussed. Alongside conducting technique, choral conducting has a second language: rehearsal language. It describes how a rehearsal is structured, what types of rehearsals exist, and how voices and their distribution are discussed. Anyone who knows these terms confidently can follow rehearsal plans, training courses, and professional conversations without having to ask. This second

From upbeat to subdivision. What you need to know to feel confident in rehearsals and training courses. Anyone learning choral conducting quickly runs into a language of its own: in scores, in training courses, in conversation with experienced colleagues. Some of these terms are familiar from music lessons, but often not precisely enough to use with confidence. Others you meet for the first time. This overview of the essential conducting-technique terms gives you the vocabula

An honest look at what goes wrong in choral conducting, and what you can do about it. Imagine this situation: you're standing in front of your choir, the rehearsal is running, and somehow something isn't right. The entries come in ragged. The sound is unsettled. You stop, explain, try again. And still it doesn't get better. The frustrating part: it's usually not the choir's fault. It comes down to small, concrete things in your own conducting. Things you often can't see becau