Conducting yourself

Subject: RE: Review: Conducting yourself
From: Joe Offer
Date: 15 Sep 18 - 07:36 PM

My hands are occupied holding the fig leaf, so I don't have that problem.

I do move my hands when I'm leading singing. Otherwise, it's hard to figure out what to do with them when. Sometimes I gesture with my hands, sometimes I clasp them in front of myself fig-leaf fashion.

But it's a hard thing to know WHAT to do. I think I'd empathize with the singer's awkwardness, and recall how often I feel awkward myself.

-Joe-

Subject: Review: Conducting yourself
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Sep 18 - 07:29 PM

Just wondering why a substantial number of our younger singers, and indeed, a few older ones, seem to find it necessary to conduct themselves with one or both hands going up and down while they are singing? Who is teaching them that, or are they inventing it for themselves, but not being told how contrived it looks? Personally, I find it both unnecessary, and also distracting to watch. Is someone teaching our younger singers to do this?
There have probably been previous threads on what to do with your hands while singing, especially if said hands are not otherwise employed in playing an instrument. I've never been a fan of the hands in the jeans pocket stance, nor the hand cupped behind the ear: hands relaxed by the sides or loosely clasped below waist level, maybe just opening out once in a while to emphasise a particular word or phrase seem ideal. But can we please get away from any flapping, self-conducting or other brachial histrionics?