Relationships among Conducting Quality, Ensemble Performance Quality, and State Festival Ratings

This study was the third in a series examining the relationships among conductors, ensembles' performances, and festival ratings. Participants (N = 51) were asked to score the quality of video-only conducting and parallel audio-only excerpts of performances at a state-level concert festival of nine bands, three each that had received ratings of Superior (I), Excellent (II), or Good (III). There was no significant difference among scores for conducting across festival ratings; however, there were significant differences among ensemble performance scores, with bands receiving Superior ratings scoring higher than those receiving ratings of Excellent or Good. No relationship was found between scores given conductors and their respective ensembles' performances. Participants were also asked to give reasons (N = 1, 393) for the scores. The comments were used to develop emergent themes based on what participants attended to, and trends were found regarding aspects of conducting and performances that had positive or negative influences.

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