all
rehearsals must be rather strict and the performers must be trained to
keep their eyes on you practically all the time. (In the case of
choral music, it would be well to have a great deal more of it
entirely committed to memory so that at the performance the singers
might be enabled to give the conductor their absolute attention.) You
have a perfect right to demand that all shall work industriously
during every working minute of the rehearsal hour and that there shall
be no whispering or fooling whatsoever, either while you are giving
directions, or while you are conducting. If you are unfortunate enough
to have in your organization certain individuals who do not attend to
the work in hand even after a private admonition, it will be far
better to drop them from the organization, for they are bound to do
more harm than good if they are retained. On the other hand, you will
recognize the temptation to whisper which the performer feels while
you are giving a long-winded explanation of some pet theory of yours,
and you will accordingly cut down the amount of talking you do to the
minimum. A good rule to follow is this: "_Talk little at the
rehearsal, but when you do talk, be sure that every one listens._"
Keep your performers so busy that they will have no time to think
about anything but the work in hand. Plan plenty of work so as to be
able to keep things moving through the entire hour. Better a rehearsal
conducted in this way and only one hour long, than a slow-moving,
boresome affair, two hours in length. If the tax of such concentrated
attention is too severe to be kept up constantly for an entire hour,
plan to have a five-minute intermission when everyone may talk and
laugh and thus relax. The author has found that with a body of amateur
singers, a ninety-minute rehearsal, with a five- to seven-minute
intermission in the middle, works very well indeed.

[Sidenote: BEGINNING THE REHEARSAL]

Do not shout at your chorus or orchestra if the members are noisy.
Wait until the noise subsides entirely before you begin to speak, and
address them in a quiet, dignified, authoritative way when you do
begin. Unless you have some pointed remark to make about the
rendition of the music, it is far better to give merely the place of
beginning without making any remarks at all. Securing quiet by a
prolonged rapping with the baton is a sign of weak discipline. Do not
rap at all until the music is distributed, the accompanist in h