Probably the most intimidating thing about suddenly being thrust into the opportunity of leading music is conducting Beat Patterns. There are many drawings and maps of how to wave your arm around in all sorts of patterns such as 4/4, 3/4, and 6/8 time signatures, but there is a simpler way.
First, practice snapping your fingers to the beat of the music. Think in your mind the song “Ode to Joy,” the famous 5 note melody from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. This melody has one note or syllable for nearly each beat. Now, practice tapping your fingers down on a table for each syllable or note or beat of the tune. When you tap this way in an even rhythm, you are essentially conducting downbeats. Now pretend to tap with that downward motion in the air. Notice that your downward motion should tap at approximately the same place in space on precisely each beat. This is called the ictus of the beat pattern or DOWNBEAT. The upward motion before and after the downward motion into the ictus is called the preparation or rebound. In conducting music, everything that you need to convey can be done through DOWNBEATS made up of the preparation/rebound and the ictus.
Using just DOWNBEATS you can be successful in keeping the rhythm of the music. But DOWNBEATS can do so much more. The meter or rhythm of the song is usually divided into strong and weak beats. In “Ode to Joy,” the first of every four beats is the strong or heaviest beat. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th beats are much weaker. Any song with a walking beat will feel the same. Sometimes the 3rd beat will be a strong beat, but not as strong as the 1st beat. We call this DUPLE METER. In this case we can divide our DOWNBEATS actually into strong downbeats on counts 1 and 3, and weaker downbeats on counts 2 and 4. Conducting is actually a function of how long and strong the rebound phase of the downbeat is. In preparing for a strong downbeat, the ictus will be small, but the rebound will be big. In preparing for a weak beat, the rebound from the previous beat will be small into the next down beat. In TRIPLE METER, such as in the song “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” the 1st beat will be strong with beats 2 and 3 much weaker.
With just the preparatory upward motion you can cue the singers how loud to sing, how fast the tempo will be, and the feeling to use while singing. By using a strong, long motion and taking a big breath the singers will know to sing loud. By using a small light motion and taking a gentle breath the singers will know to sing softly. Obviously, the speed and length of the preparatory cue beat will determine the tempo. The body language, facial expressions and breathing of the conductor will convey a lot of information to the singers and the accompanist.
After you start feeling comfortable with using DOWNBEATS, you can progress to learning beat patterns. The shapes of the beat patterns are just an extension of strong and weak downbeats. Many times accomplished conductors throw out the whole notion of using beat patterns in favor of conducting DOWNBEATS. Setting the rhythm, conveying the feeling, and keeping everyone together are much more important than getting hung-up on beat patterns.
Of course there are songs out there that have beat patterns that look deceiving. For example, "Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?" This piece is marked in a 6/8 time signature. Here is an example of compound rhythm. Looking at the time signature, you would think that you need to wave your arm around in a pattern of six beats per measure. The problem is that the beats are too fast and you would look ridiculous after a while waving your arm around so fast. Besides, you would probably loose all track of your counting. Because 6 can be divided into two groups of 3 counts, conductors will simple use two DOWNBEATS per measure, or two groups of fast triple meter. In my arrangement of this song, the measures often change between 6/8 and 3/8. Just using one DOWNBEAT per 3/8 measure solves that nuisance counting problem.