The Complete Idiot''s Guide to Music Theory

260 Par t 6:Arranging

Now you bring your arm down, all the way to the bottommost position, exactly

on beat one. This is position 1, and it’s the most important movement in your

conducting. The musicians have to get a solid “one,” and that’s where your

downbeat comes in.

For the second beat in the measure, move your arm up slightly and to the left,

to position 2. Then, for the third beat, move your arm straight across, to the

right, to position 3.

Now we’re up to the fourth beat of the measure, and your upbeat. Swing your

arm back up to position 4 and get ready to start all over again for the next

measure.

Practice this movement—(up)-down-left-right-up—again and again, at different

tempos. Once you get this mastered, you’re conducting!

Conducting in Two

Conducting in 2/4 or 2/2 time is pretty similar to conducting in four. All you

have to do is leave out the left and right movements to positions 2 and 3.

That’s right: Conducting in two is a simple up-down, up-down movement; up

for the preparatory beat, down for one, up for two, down for one—again and

again and again.

Here’s what the pattern looks like:

1

2

Conducting in two.

Conducting in Three

Conducting in three is slightly more difficult than conducting in two or four.

It’s kind of like the four pattern, but without the left, or 2 position. In terms of

movement, you start with the preparatory beat (of course), then go down for

one, to the right for two, up for three, then back down for one again. Down,

right, up—like this: