In The Beat Stops Here: Lessons on and off the Podium for Today's Conductor, master conductor Mark Gibson addresses the technique of conducting as an extension of intimate knowledge of the score to the hands and arms. He employs a variety of everyday activities and motions (brushing the dog, Tinkerbelle, the "door knob") to describe the physical aspects of the role. He advocates a comprehensive, detailed approach to score study, addressing major works bar-by-bar in terms of both musical analysis and conducting method. Finally, Gibson explores the various roles a conductor plays, as a teacher, a scholar and a member of the musical community. His writing is highly focused, with an occasionally tongue-in-cheek, discussing everything from motivic development in Brahms to how to hold a knife and fork in public. In short, The Beat Stops Here is a compendium of style and substance in the real world of today's conductor.

Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements
Preface
Foreword: Teaching Conducting
List of Musical Examples and Illustrations

PART 1: REPERTOIRE LESSONS
Introduction to Repertoire Lessons
A Glossary of Conducting Gesture

Chapter 1. Overture
Ludwig van Beethoven: "Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus," Op. 43 (1801)
Gioacchino Rossini: La Cenerentola (1817)
Felix Mendelssohn: "Die schöne Melusine," Op. 32 (1833)
Giuseppe Verdi: Les Vêpres Siciliennes (I Vespri Siciliani) (1855)
Johannes Brahms: Tragische Ouvertüre, Op. 81 (1880)
Chapter 2. Opera
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Don Giovanni, K. 527 (1787)
Sestetto: "Solo, solo in buio loco"
Giuseppe Verdi: Un ballo in maschera (1859)
Finale 3º Scena e Romanza:
"Forse la soglia attinseELMa se m'è forza perderti"
Jules Massenet: Manon (1884)
Duo: "Pardonnez-moi, Dieu de toute puissance"
Giacomo Puccini: Madama Butterfly (1904)
Duetto: "Viene la sera"
Chapter 3. Smaller symphonic works
W.A.Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 29 in A Major, K. 201 (1774)
Antonín Dvorák: Scherzo Capriccioso, Op. 66 (1883)
Maurice Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales (1911, orch. 1912)
Chapter 4. Concerto and solo works
Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Concerto no. 4 in G Major, Op. 58 (1805-6)
Gustav Mahler: Des knaben Wunderhorn (1887-1899); Four songs
Jean Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47 (1904)
Chapter 5. Larger symphonic works
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Op. 35 (1888)
Igor Stravinsky: Petrouchka: Scènes burlesques en 4 tableaux (1911, rev. 1947)

PART 2: PROFESSIONAL LESSONS
Chapter 6. The Conductor as Teacher
Not the Eternal Tao
Are Two Hands Better?
MAKE YOUR OWN METRONOME!
Storytelling
Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes
Developing Score Reading Skills (by A. Tomaro)
Quantifiable
Chapter 7. The Conductor as Scholar
On Rewriting the Act 3 Finale of Bizet's Les Pêcheurs de Perles (1863)
Heroism Denied: Movement Order in Mahler's Sixth Symphony (1903-4, rev. 1906)
Puccini's Turandot (1924): A Conductor's Perspective
Chapter 8. The Conductor as Leader
Working with the Orchestra: Bill of Rights
Three-part Conducting Rules
More Rules for the Road
Talk Show - a cautionary tale
Quiz Show
Working in the Opera House:"Gott, welch dunkel hier!"
Working with Singers: A Breed Apart
Working with Chorus: Dreamers of Dreams
Building a Career: Ou voulez-vous allez?

POSTSCRIPT: Present and Future Tense
Appendix A: Musical works and editions
Appendix B: Texts and Translations
Appendix C: Tempo Indications and Metronome Markings
Appendix D: Endnotes
Appendix E: Resource materials/bibliography

INDEX