Conducting the choir

Robert Poynton of 'On Your Feet' - my improvisation guru - and the Danish choral conductor Peter Hanke, founder of 'Exart Performances', recently combined their two sister disciplines to produce a workshop in London's small and perfectly formed Amadeus Centre. After a brief welcome and warm up exercise, fifteen slightly nervous participants spent the afternoon taking it in turns to conduct a four voice ensemble rehearsing their madrigals. Using a well timed series of gentle interventions Peter nudged all his amateur conductors up the competence slope towards a firm base camp of confidence. As a demonstration of the leadership principle that you sometimes need to 'act yourself into a new way of thinking', the experience was full of sharp insights into our individual communication styles and interactions.

I walked out into the russet light of a London autumn evening humming what I fondly imagined to be a baroque melody and determined to listen harder and let my hands do more of the talking in future.