THE SUPERVISOR OF MUSIC AS CONDUCTOR
[Sidenote: THE FIELD OF SCHOOL MUSIC]
The phenomenal progress which has been made during recent years in the
music departments of both the grades and the high schools of our great
public educational systems, together with the fact that a large number
of young men and women of real musical ability are entering the field
of public school music as a life work, make it seem worth while to
include a chapter upon the work of the music supervisor as conductor.
The writer has long contended that the public school systems of this
country offered the most significant opportunity for influencing the
musical taste of a nation that has ever existed. If this be true, then
it is highly important that the teachers of music in these school
systems shall be men and women who are, in the first place, thoroughly
trained musicians; in the second place, broadly educated along general
lines; and in the third place, imbued with a knowledge concerning, and
a spirit of enthusiasm for, what free education along cultural lines
is able to accomplish in the lives of the common people. In connection
with this latter kind of knowledge, the supervisor of music will, of
course, need also to become somewhat intimately acquainted with
certain basic principles and practical methods of both general
pedagogy and music education.
We are not writing a treatise on music in the public schools, and
shall therefore not attempt to acquaint the reader, in the space of
one chapter, with even the fundamental principles of school music
teaching. We shall merely call attention to certain phases of the
supervisor's work that seem to come within the scope of a book on
conducting.
[Sidenote: DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED IN TEACHING LARGE GROUPS]
The first point that we should like to have noted in this connection
is that teaching a group of from forty to one hundred children all at
the same time is a vastly different matter from giving individual
instruction to a number of pupils separately. The teacher of a class
needs to be much more energetic, much more magnetic, much more capable
of keeping things moving and of keeping everyone interested in the
work and therefore out of mischief; he needs, in short, to possess in
high degree those qualities involved in leadership and organization
that were cited in an earlier chapter as necessary for the conductor
in general. In teaching individual pupils one need not usually think
of the problem of _discipline_ at all; but, in giving instruction to a
class of from thirty to forty children in the public schools, one
inevitably finds in the same group those with musical ability and
those without it; those who are interested in the music lesson and
those who are indifferent or even openly scornful; those who are full
of energy and enthusiasm and those who are lazy and indifferent and
will do only what they are made to do; those who have had lessons on
piano or violin and have acquired considerable proficiency in
performance, and those who have just come in from an outlying rural
school where no music has ever been taught, and are therefore not able
to read music, have no musical perception or taste whatsoever, and are
frequently not even able to "carry a tune." In dealing with such
heterogeneous classes, problems of discipline as well as problems of
pedagogy are bound to arise, and it requires rare tact and skill in
working out details of procedure, as well as a broad vision of the
ultimate end to be accomplished, to bring order out of such musical
chaos. And yet precisely this result is being secured by hundreds of
music teachers and supervisors all over the country; and the musical
effects of a fifteen-minute daily practice period are already
surprisingly evident, and will undoubtedly become more and more
manifest as the years go by. The outlook for the future is wholly
inspiring indeed; and no musician need fear that in taking up public
school music he is entering upon a field of work which is too small
for one of his caliber. The only question to be asked in such a case
is whether the teacher in question is big enough and is sufficiently
trained along musical, general, and pedagogical lines to handle this
important task in such fashion as to insure a result commensurate with
the opportunity.
[Sidenote: THE ADVANTAGES OF AN ATTRACTIVE PERSONALITY]
Charm of personality has a great deal to do with the success of many
directors of children's singing. School superintendents are well aware
of this fact, and of two equally capable candidates for a school
position (especially one involving work with small children) the
supervisor who is attractive in appearance and neat in attire, is
almost sure to be chosen. We mention this fact not in order to
discourage those not possessing an average amount of personal charm,
but to encourage them to take physical exercise, and by other means to
increase the attractiveness of their physical appearance; to enhance
their charm further by tasteful dress; and most important of all, to
cultivate a sprightly and cheerful attitude (but not a patronizing and
gushing manner) toward children as well as adults. Attractiveness of
personality may be increased further by the cultivation of refined
language and a well-modulated voice in speaking, as well as by
schooling oneself in the habitual use of the utmost courtesy in
dealing with all people.
[Sidenote: DIRECTING YOUNG CHILDREN]
In the lower grades, it is best not to conduct formally with baton in
hand, but rather to stand (or sit) before the class, and by facial
expression, significant gesture, bodily pose, _et cetera_, arouse an
appropriate response to the "expression" of the song. Every song tells
a story of some sort and even little children can be caused to sing
with surprisingly good "expression" if the teacher makes a consistent
effort to arouse the correct mental and emotional attitude toward each
individual song every time it is sung.
[Sidenote: DIRECTING OLDER CHILDREN]
In teaching a class of older children, it is well for the supervisor
to stand at the front of the room with baton in hand, giving the
conventional signals for attack and release and beating time in the
usual way during at least a part of each song in order that the
children may become accustomed to following a conductor's beat. It is
not necessary to beat time constantly, and the teacher, after giving
the signal for the attack and setting the tempo, may lower the baton,
until a _fermata_, or a _ritardando_, or the final tone of the song
makes its use necessary again.
A word of warning should perhaps be inserted at this point against
tapping with the baton, counting aloud, beating time with the foot,
_et cetera_, on the teacher's part. These various activities may
occasionally be necessary, in order to prevent dragging, to change the
tempo, to get a clear and incisive rhythmic response in a certain
passage, _et cetera_; but their habitual employment is not only
exceedingly inartistic, but is positively injurious to the rhythmic
sense of the children, because it takes away from them the opportunity
(or rather necessity) of each one making his own individual muscular
response to the rhythm of the music. The more responsibility the
teacher takes, the less the pupils will assume, and in this way they
are deprived of the practice which they need in working out the rhythm
for themselves, the result often being that a group of children get to
the point where they cannot "keep time" at all unless some one counts
aloud or pounds the desk with a ruler as an accompaniment to their
singing.
[Sidenote: THE SELECTION OF MUSIC FOR GRADE CHILDREN]
A very large element in the success of all public performances is the
selection of just the right type of music. In the case of small
children, unison songs with attractive music and childlike texts
should be chosen. When the children are somewhat older (from eight or
nine to twelve) longer and more elaborate unison songs provided with
musicianly accompaniments may be selected, while rounds and
unaccompanied part songs are effective by way of contrast. In the case
of upper-grade children, part songs (sometimes even with a bass part,
if there are enough changed voices to carry it successfully) are best.
But it should be noted that the voices in these upper grades are not
usually so clear and brilliant as they have been in the two or three
preceding years, the beauty and brilliancy of the child's voice
culminating at about the Sixth Grade.
[Sidenote: THE HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS IN PUBLIC]
In planning public performances for a high school chorus, many
difficult questions arise. Shall the program consist of miscellaneous
selections or of a connected work? If the latter, shall it be of the
operatic type, involving action, scenery, and costumes, or shall it be
of the cantata or oratorio type? And if the latter, shall heavy works
like the _Messiah_ and _Elijah_ be given, or shall our efforts be
confined to presenting the shorter and simpler modern works which are
musically interesting and in the rendition of which the immature
voices of adolescent boys and girls are not so likely to be strained?
A discussion of these matters properly belongs in a treatise on public
school music, and we can only state our belief here that, in general,
the _musical_ development of the children will be more directly
fostered by practice upon choral rather than upon operatic works; and
that extreme care must be exercised by the high school chorus director
in handling immature voices lest they be strained in the enthusiasm of
singing music written for mature adult voices. Whether this implies
the entire elimination of the _Messiah_ and other similar works, is
left to the discretion of each individual supervisor, it being our
task merely to point out the responsibility of the high school chorus
director for recognizing the difference between mature voices and
immature ones.
[Sidenote: THE PUBLIC PERFORMANCE]
In giving public performances with a large group of small children,
the director will need to learn that it is necessary to teach in
advance the precise shading to be employed at the performance. In
working with an adult chorus, the conductor expects every singer to
watch him closely throughout the selection, and many slight changes of
tempo and dynamics are made at the performance that have perhaps never
been thought of during the rehearsal. But children are usually not
able to keep their minds on the task in hand to this extent, and if
there is to be a _ritardando_ or a _crescendo_ at a certain point, the
only safe thing is to teach this change in tempo or dynamics when
first taking up the song, so that the expressional element may become
a habit in the same way as the tones and rhythms. This is particularly
necessary in teaching the same songs to several different groups
separately in preparation for a public performance in which various
groups that have not practised together are to sing the same numbers.
[Sidenote: ATTITUDE OF THE CONDUCTOR AT THE PERFORMANCE]
The conductor must always appear cheerful and confident when
conducting children (or for that matter, adults) in public, for if he
seems anxious and distressed, or worse yet, if he informs the singers
that he is afraid that they will not do well, his uneasiness is almost
sure to be communicated to the performers and there will probably be a
panic and perhaps even a breakdown. If the conductor seriously feels
that the compositions to be performed have not been rehearsed
sufficiently, it will be far better for him either to insist upon
extra rehearsals (even at considerable inconvenience), or else upon a
postponement of the performance. A good rule to follow in preparing
for a public performance of any kind is this: _Go through the work
over and over until it is done correctly; then go through it enough
times more to fix this correct way in mind and muscle as a habit._ Too
many performances are given upon an inadequate rehearsal basis, and it
has happened again and again that performers have been so busy
watching the notes that they have had no time to watch the conductor,
and the rendition of really beautiful music has been made in a tame,
groping, and consequently uninteresting manner. Our American
impatience with slow processes of any sort is as often to blame here
as the negligence of the conductor, the latter often arranging to have
a performance at an earlier date than he really wishes to because he
knows that his chorus will become impatient with the large number of
repetitions that a really artistic performance requires.
[Sidenote: THE HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS]
In directing a large high school chorus (sometimes numbering from five
hundred to fifteen hundred singers), the conductor will find it
necessary to study his score in advance even more than usual, for here
he is dealing with large numbers of bright and lively American boys
and girls, many of whom are not particularly interested in the chorus
practice and all of whom love to indulge in mischievous pranks of
various sorts. The conductor who is likely to be most successful in
handling such a chorus is he who, other things being equal, has
prepared his work most thoroughly and is able to conduct without
looking at his music at all, and who can, therefore, keep things
moving throughout the rehearsal period. We might add that if he does
not keep things moving _musically_, the students in his chorus will
keep them moving along other and probably less desirable lines!
[Sidenote: SEATING THE HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS]
Many other topics might be discussed in this chapter but the subject
is too complex for adequate treatment except in a work dealing with
this one subject alone. Let us, therefore, close the chapter by giving
a plan for seating the high school chorus that has been found
effective in various schools where it has been used.
[Illustration: SEATING PLAN FOR A HIGH SCHOOL CHORUS
--------------------------------------
Mezzo-soprano | Mezzo-soprano
girls | girls
singing soprano | singing alto
------------------+-------------------
Girl | | Baritones | Girl
Sopranos | Tenors | and | Altos
---------+ | Basses +-------
Boy | | | Boy
Sopranos | | | Altos
---------+--------+-----------+-------
+--------+ +-----+
|Director| |Piano|
+--------+ +-----+]
The advantages of the plan given above are:
1. That it places the boys in front where their less
developed voices and often smaller numbers will insure
better balance,[23] and where also the teacher can more
easily see what is going on in their midst.
2. It places all the boys in the same part of the room and
thus removes the chief objection that boys with unchanged
voices make to singing soprano and alto. There will probably
not be a great number of these unchanged voices in any
ordinary high school chorus, but there are almost certain to
be a few, and these few should not be attempting to sing
tenor or bass when their voice-range is still that of
soprano or alto.
3. By placing the _mezzo_ voices (of which variety there are
usually more than of any other) between the sopranos and
altos, they can be used on either the soprano or alto part,
as may be necessitated by the range and dynamic demands of
the composition in hand. In seating these _mezzo-soprano_
girls the teacher may furthermore allow those who, although
having _mezzo_ voices, prefer to sing the alto part, to sit
on the side next to the alto section and the others on the
side next to the soprano section. If there are any boys with
unchanged voices who are _mezzo_ in range, they may be
seated directly back of the bass section, thus keeping them
in the boys' division and yet giving them an opportunity of
singing with those who have the same range as themselves.
[Footnote 23: The essentials of this same plan of seating are
recommended to adult choruses for a like reason; _viz._, in order to
enable a smaller number of men's voices to balance a larger number of
sopranos and altos by placing the men in the most prominent position,
instead of seating them back of the women, as is so frequently done.]
As will be noted in the plan, the conductor stands directly in front
of the basses, the piano being placed on either side as may be most
convenient, the pianist, of course, facing the conductor. In directing
a large chorus, it is a great advantage to have two pianos, one on
either side.