Essentials in Conducting | Page 7

not answer to his wishes, have it repeated. If it
went no better the second or perhaps third time, he would be extremely
angry at what he considered the clumsiness, or even the ill-will of the
players; but detailed remarks he never made.
[Footnote 4: Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, New Edition,
Vol. IV, p. 363.]
This estimate of Schumann's work as a conductor demonstrates
unmistakably that he failed in this particular field, not because his
musical scholarship was not adequate, but because he did not have that
peculiar ability which enables one man to dominate others: viz., a sense
of leadership, or personal magnetism, as it is often called. Seidl
asserts[5] that Berlioz, Massenet, and Saint-Saëns likewise failed as
conductors, in spite of recognized musicianship; and it is of course well
known that even Beethoven and Brahms could not conduct their own
works as well as some of their contemporaries whose names are now

almost forgotten.
[Footnote 5: Seidl, The Music of the Modern World, Vol. I, p. 106.]
The feeling that one has the power to cause others to do one's will
seems in most cases to be inborn, at least certain children display it at a
very early age; and it is usually the boys and girls who decide on the
playground what games shall be played next, or what mischief shall
now be entered upon, who later on become leaders in their several
fields of activity. And yet this sense of leadership, or something closely
approximating it, may also be acquired, at least to a certain extent, by
almost any one who makes a consistent and intelligent attempt in this
direction. It is this latter fact which may encourage those of us who are
not naturally as gifted along these lines as we should like to be, and it is
because of this possibility of acquiring what in conducting amounts to
an indispensable qualification that an attempt is here made to analyze
the thing called leadership into its elements.
[Sidenote: THE FIRST ELEMENT IN LEADERSHIP]
The primary basis upon which a sense of leadership rests is
undoubtedly confidence in one's general ability and in one's knowledge
of the particular subject being handled. The leader must not only know
but must know that he knows. This makes quick judgments possible,
and the leader and organizer must always be capable of making such
judgments, and of doing it with finality. The baseball player must
decide instantly whether to throw the ball to "first," "second," "third,"
or "home," and he must repeatedly make such decisions correctly
before he can become a strong and respected baseball captain. The
same thing holds true of the foreman in a factory, and both baseball
captain and factory foreman must not only know every detail of the
work done under them, but must know that they know it, and must feel
confident of being able to cause those working under them to carry it
on as they conceive it. So the conductor must not only know music, but
must have confidence in his ear, in his rhythmic precision, in his taste,
in his judgment of tempo, in short, in his musical scholarship; and he
must not only feel that he knows exactly what should be done in any
given situation, but be confident that he can make his chorus or

orchestra do it as he wishes. Think for instance of securing a firm
attack on the first tone of such a song as the Marseillaise. It is an
extremely difficult thing to do, and it would be utterly impossible to
direct any one else exactly how to accomplish it; and yet, if the
conductor knows exactly how it must sound, if he has an auditory
image of it before the actual tones begin, and if he feels that when he
begins to beat time the chorus will sing as he has heard them in
imagination, then the expected result is almost certain to follow. But if
he is uncertain or hesitant upon any of these points, he will as surely
fail to get a good attack.
Such confidence in one's own ability as we have been describing
usually results in the acquiring of what is called an easy
manner,--self-possession,--in short, poise, and it is the possession of
such a bearing that gives us confidence in the scholarship and ability of
the leaders in any type of activity. But the influence of this type of
manner cannot be permanent unless it rests upon a foundation of really
solid knowledge or ability.
[Sidenote: THE SECOND ELEMENT IN LEADERSHIP]
The second element included in leadership and organizing ability is the
power to make oneself understood, that is, clearness of speech and of
expression. This involves probably first of all, so far as conducting is
concerned, a voice that