Effects of Conductor Expressivity on Secondary School Band Members’ Performance and Attitudes Toward Conducting

Abstract

We investigated the effects of expressive and unexpressive conducting on secondary school band members’ and experts’ audio evaluations of band performance expressivity. A conductor, who demonstrated either expressive or unexpressive conducting techniques, led both an eighth-grade and a high school band in four separate “run-throughs” of a one-minute excerpt from David Holsinger’s A Childhood Hymn. Each excerpt was conducted both expressively and unexpressively at two separate rehearsals, resulting in four performances for each band. Participants ( N = 165) involved with the audio evaluation task included the band members as well as experts (i.e., public school band directors). Results indicated significant main effects for evaluator group (eighth grade, high school, or experts) and ensemble level (eighth grade or high school). No significant main effect was found for conductor expressivity, but a significant three-way interaction between conductor expressivity, evaluator group, and ensemble level was found, with experts assigning lower ensemble expressivity scores than the band members. To determine whether the performers in this study would notice any differences between the conducting conditions, we replicated a survey from Price and Winter to gauge their opinions about the conductor. Our results indicated that eighth-grade and high school students preferred being conducted expressively rather than unexpressively.