This is another incredibly important area of conducting, particularly in the context of rehearsing. Conducting is management in real-time. We rarely have the luxury of mulling over something for a few hours or discussing options with trusted colleagues.
We are constantly taking decisions without being in full possession of the facts. Should we play something again or trust it will improve by itself? Do we rehearse a tricky section slowly or break it down into sections? How about finishing a bit early because you sense concentration is slipping, or use every last second of rehearsal time? How to answer that loaded question from someone in the ensemble? In the concert, do we go with the section that came in a bar early, or the rest of the ensemble?
All these decisions require us to exercise intuition, and an ability to successfully ‘read the room’ is vital.
