INFLUENCE OF ACTIVE COMMUNICATION IN CHORAL CONDUCTING

Abstract

Communication in choral or instrumental music can be either responsive or expressive, occurring between a sender and a beneficiary as the sender (director) expresses musical information in the music sheet in the verbal, visual, or aural signs, and a recipient (choir) deciphers the information. Thus, interpretive communication is a two-advance procedure, depending on data being conveyed plainly and deciphered effectively. This investigation draws on momentum look into and applicable writing to talk about ways choral conductors can improve effective communication with particular reference to the ensemble's discernments. The study, which adopts Marrine's theory of gesture and musical communication, notes that gesture functions as non-verbal communication in music describes how conducting gestures are constructed from motion, and shows how gesture could be detected and reconstructed through sensing technology and software models. Primary data for this study was obtained through participant observation and interviews with ten (10) church-based conductors in Ogbomoso. An examination of practices used by selected conductors reveals that the conductors utilise a series of verbal and non-verbal nuances in conducting; this is herein referred to as "communicative conducting". Findings reveal that meaningful interpretation of African music depends on the director's ability to capture the mood of the music, shape of dynamics, colour of tone, drive the rhythm, express the form and most importantly, develop an inner sense to read into the mind of the composers. The interviewee's feedback uncovers that the conductor's signal, outward appearance and non-verbal communication are critical previously and amid an act. The conductor indicates melodic aims in nonverbal language through motion and these components. Based on the findings, the study recommends that the school of music should develop a curriculum that emphasises meaningful interpretations of African music in a performance. Scholars and researchers in the field of art of conducting should still explore studies in the proper application of score studies towards realising a meaningful insight into the composer's mind in a performance.