For veteran conductors, experience will have led to solutions and workable processes for many if not all of the issues addressed in this addendum. Less practiced conductors may find the chapter particularly useful; perhaps more practiced ones will find nuggets of interest as well.

Before the Rehearsal

Marking the Parts

The more markings there are in the parts, the more the music-making process becomes visual rather than aural. String parts, however, must be bowed. The quality of sound and inflections of volume are affected by the direction, speed, weight, location on the string (closer to or farther from the bridge), location on the bow (closer to or farther from the frog), and angle of the bow (the amount of hair that contacts the string). Conductors who are string players likely have an instinctive understanding of these considerations, and non-string players should try to achieve a similarly firm grasp of the range of sound possibilities.

Principal players generally mark bowings in advance, but because they may not share the conductor's understanding of dynamic structure, the bowings may result in less than optimal phrasing inflections or quality of sound. For this reason some conductors make sets of meticulously bowed parts. However, individual players differ and string sections differ, thus bowings are not universally optimal and often get changed in rehearsal to suit a particular ensemble. As bowings may get changed, many conductors find it best to accept the principals’ bowings and work out any kinks in rehearsal.

It can be helpful to notate ornaments in all parts and to mark breaths in chorus and wind parts, either to ensure uniform articulations or to organize staggered breathing. And a chorus can benefit from marked consonant placements. As a matter of practicality, however, most or all of this can easily be accomplished in rehearsal.

Finally, marking phrasing inflections is best avoided: a musician who makes an inflection of volume by following a written marking is less likely to do it musically than one who hears the musical necessity.