Relationships between perceptions of conducting effectiveness and ensemble performance

Abstract

Conducting is a complex art which involves, among other things, effective nonverbal communication. And, while this communication includes hand and arm gestures as well as eye contact and facial expression, it also encompasses nonverbal messages sent by the rest of a conductor's body such as their physical appearance. Perceptions drawn by what a person looks like and how well they fit the stereotypical role they are portraying oftentimes affects opinions of their job performance. Thus, the nonverbal messages sent by a conductor's physical appearance could affect ensemble member's opinions of them as a conductor. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between conductor body type and perceptions of conductor effectiveness and ensemble performance. Further, relationships between the conductor's visual appearance characteristics, which included eye contact, facial expression, and posture, and performance ratings, evaluator confidence in the conductor and performance ratings, and overall conductor effectiveness and performance ratings were explored. It was found that body type of the conductor as well as gender and college major of the evaluator did not effect the ratings of conductor and ensemble performances. However, performance ratings were affected when conductors were viewed in a certain order. There were moderate to moderately strong relationships between the performance ratings and conductor posture, conductor facial expression, evaluator's confidence in the conductor, overall conducting effectiveness. Eye contact, however, did not seem to impact the performance ratings to a great degree.