Evaluating Expressive Conducting: A Statistical Analysis of Rural High School Wind Ensemble Performances

This quantitative research study seeks to discuss differences between musical performances of band students at a rural high school of low socioeconomic status when conducted with expressive and non-expressive gestures as measured by the Georgia Music Educators Association Large Group Performance Evaluation rubric defined as tone, intonation, technique, balance, and musicality. Students in ensemble classes are instructed to watch their conductor or director as he or she gestures from the podium. Gestures may include but are not limited to providing cues for students to begin playing, depicting tempo, and demonstrating the musical phrase and style of the current passage. The researcher used descriptive statistics and a one-sample t-test to analyze the musical performances of two developing wind ensembles in a rural high school. The researcher used Welch’s t-test to compare student perceptions of two conducting styles: expressive and non-expressive. Students in each of the two wind ensembles performed three musical selections. A guest conductor led one ensemble with non-expressive gesturing. The guest conductor led the other ensemble with expressive gesturing. Audio recordings of the two performances were emailed to three experienced band directors selected as judges for this experiment. The judges rated both performances based on technical proficiency and musicality using the rubric sheet designed by the Georgia Music Educators Association for Large Group Performance Evaluations. The results of this study indicate an increase in perceived musicality when the performing ensemble is conducted with expressive gestures. Results also indicate that students prefer to be conducted with expressive gestures.