As the first Director of the Royal College of Music, Sir George Grove’s motto for the institution was ‘A player may be perfect in technique, and yet have neither soul nor intelligence.’ To appreciate the strength of that statement we have to define ‘technique’. Essentially it is the mechanical aspect of an art form as distinct from its expressive characteristics. No matter what the art form, the interrelationship between technique and expression, each serving the other, is an absolute principle, regardless of the manner in which the substance is executed. We would not expect a violinist to play a Mozart concerto if the scales and arpeggios relating to the work had not been learned as a technical foundation separately from the artistic product.

The large number of books available which deal with the fundamentals of beating patterns and basic functions of pulse are useful as a starting point for the issues dealt with in this book. For its clarity and musicality in explaining basic principles my preference is for a volume published as long ago as 1933: Handbook of Conducting by Hermann Scherchen. It has not been surpassed for its structured perception of technique and its application to the art of conducting. The present book takes Scherchen’s foundation principles as a starting point for the extension of the technical requirements of a new age. It is also significant that Scherchen’s distinguished reputation rests on his championship and conducting of the progressive music of his own time. While he rarely used a baton, his instruction in the book illustrates his own sensitive use of it. As an implement for developing economy in technique I consider it to be an essential element in the early stages of study. In eventually dispensing with it my own decision was based on a compulsion to use the expressive and supple use of the hand and wrist rather than the secondary implement of a ‘piece of wood’. For a conductor who used one of the longest batons in history, it is interesting to read Adrian Boult’s recommendation on this matter: ‘There is no reason why anyone who wishes should not conduct without a stick [sic].