Conduct with me!

In general, I think using conducting patterns as a primary chorister is over-rated. Eye contact, the ability to move freely around the room, and hand motions which indicate words are all more important to me. But I've found conducting patterns to be very helpful as a way to get primary children actively participating as they learn.

"Conduct with me!" or "Let's conduct together!" works really well with both younger and older children.  I start by saying "be my mirror," and I conduct backwards using my left hand, moving my arm for the inner beats in the reverse direction from the diagrams above. This way, if the children follow me exactly (as though they were looking in a mirror), they'll be conducting correctly.

It's easiest to try this first with a 3/4 song like "I Love to See the Temple." I tell the children to make triangles in the air – down, out, up – and demonstrate in a rather rigid, geometric way. As they get comfortable following, I gradually modify what I'm doing to add in the curves and the little bounce that shows where the beat happens (the "ictus") without needing to explain; children copy very easily.

With 4/4 I start by demonstrating "down, across (the body), back (the other way), and up;" first rather rigidly, like drawing the side and bottom of a box in the air, then adding in the curves and ictus bounces.

If you try this group-conducting approach, be sure to notice and add in any up-beats which happen at the beginning of the song so that your down-beat (beat 1) always comes on the first beat of the measure, right after the bar line. For example, "I Love to See the Temple" starts with an up-beat (beat 3) so that the down-beat (beat 1) happens on the word "love." Being careful about this isn't just useless persnickety-ness; the strongest beat of every measure is always on beat 1, which needs to coincide with the strongest physical action, down.  If your conducting pattern gets "off the beat," half of your children and teachers will get twitchy and discontented, because it just feels wrong.

For variety, have the children conduct in very large movements to match strong singing, and in tiny patterns while singing very softly. Have them conduct with one finger, or one foot, or with their noses. Conducting in various ways keeps children entertained as they practice the song the many times required to learn it well.

Conducting together is fun! And here's a bonus: you're training future church music leaders. Have you tried this in your primaries? Please share your experiences!