Functions of produced and observed gesture in choral singing

Gestures are hand movements that co-occur with speech and express information through their form and movement trajectory. Previous work suggests gesture is widely employed by voice teachers and that when used in the context of singing, both self-produced and observed gesture can promote vocal change. The current mixed methods study was conducted to expand our understanding of how and why choral conductors employ gesture. Eighteen choral conductors completed a survey and semi-structured interview that included questions about the functions of singer-observed gesture (gestures produced by conductors) and singer-produced gesture. Interestingly, conductors indicated that singer-produced gesture is more beneficial than singer-observed gesture and especially powerful for younger or amateur singers. However, participants reported using their own gesture more frequently than singer-produced gesture in rehearsals. Qualitative content analysis was used to identify common themes in interviews. Results indicate singer-observed and singer-produced gesture support visualization and communication whereas singer-produced gesture uniquely promotes kinesthetic engagement. These results suggest that conductors’ intuitions about the function of gesture align with functions identified in the gesture-for-learning literature. In light of these results, ideas for how gesture could be better utilized in rehearsal are discussed.