We all had conducting courses in college but if you don’t teach an ensemble, you don’t use it as often. Maybe you feel a little out of practice, or maybe you are looking to feel more effective when you are conducting. Here are some of my best conducting tips for elementary music educators.

1. Memorize the Music

If you don’t have to look at it unless something goes wrong (see #2), you won’t have to break eye contact with your students. You’ll be ready for every cue. And you’ll be able to give great preps. Memorizing has never been difficult for me, and often I’ve got things memorized without intending to but I know this may be more difficult for some people. If this is you, work on the parts that may warrant more eye contact with your students. Make sure all roadmap areas are in your brain.

2. Practice

When you practice, sing it. Note dynamics, phrases, and difficult sections. You will know what to anticipate and will feel more confident in assisting students in the moment. It will also help if your students go rogue and add an extra verse and you and your accompanist are trying to figure out where they went. (It’s legit happened to me. Thank goodness I had 1 a great accompanist, 2 a really clear map of the music in my head and 3 a really confident group of kids who literally ALL did the same thing)

3. Mark your music!

Now that you have figured out all of the spots that are difficult, mark them. Note what you really need to call attention to. Pick a color and mark those spots that are related in the same color. Here’s what I use:
Red for louder
Blue for quieter
Green for miscellaneous markings I need to note
Yellow for phrases

4. Breathe

If you aren’t breathing as how the singers are to sing, it won’t feel natural. Even if you are silent, show a breath for your students with them when you want them to breathe. If you don’t do #6, still breath in like your singers and let breath out to go with the phrases. If your students aren’t singing, this can still be an effective way to communicate phrasing with them.

5. Check vowels

Vowels are such a culprit in tuning. Not only can you be out of tune, but you can sound out of tune from forming vowels incorrectly. If the students aren’t pronouncing the vowel the same way, they won’t sound like they are in tune. Make sure you speak through all the text together and help them learn the way you want it pronounced so that they learn to match. Warm ups are a great time to reinforce vowels that haven’t been matching well.

6. Mouth the words

This is SO backwards from what I was taught in college and I know there will be some people that come for me with this one. Your students are capable. They are well rehearsed. They are absolutely able to do it without you. But for me, this gave them a little confidence boost. I was able to model vowels in the moment. I was able to communicate breaths. I did not mouth everything all the time, but I found that especially with elementary students it was helpful for them especially on tricky parts, structural changes in music (like codas, repeats, etc), or changes in melodic directions for a repeated selection of text, and for sections with more complicated text. Especially in a situation where you have all your students and some may have accommodations, this may be helpful for them as well as your students who may be experiencing a little performance anxiety. Students like that they have that support. I’ll stand by this decision.

7. Warm up on task

Warm ups aren’t just to ‘warm the voice up’. They can serve a much more efficient purpose. Select warm ups that specifically deal with tasks you have in the music. If you have a lot of voiced consonants, work those into warm ups. Work out specific patterns that may have not been tuning well and use those as the repeated pattern to sing on a neutral syllable. Use tongue twisters to work through difficult articulations. Use breath work that follows the phrases. Add in movement with feet to a repeated phrase if students are getting sluggish through that section. Work on dynamic growth through sustained notes if you aren’t getting enough on crescendos. This takes some imagination, and some practice but it will definitely help you make the most of warm ups!

8. Teach vocal health

Teach students about vocal health in small bite sized pieces. Talk about yelling, drinking water, and overuse. Here’s a few I like to remind students before performances:
– Keep sugar, milk, caffeine, and super thick foods for after performances.
– Water!
– Try not to talk over crowds especially for a longer period of time.
– If it hurts when you sing, talk to me. We need to figure out what’s going on.

Also, keep an ear out for vocal fry and see if you can get kids talking in the right range. (silly voices and puppets for the win!)

9. Breath Prep

Teach your students to watch for a cue to breathe in together to start. It will take a little work, but it’s so much more effective than counting off, cleaner, and allows for a more musical start.

I hope this has given you some helpful hints!