“How to Conduct a Song,” Children’s Songbook of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 300–301
A music leader has the opportunity to influence children. Your enthusiasm, preparation, and testimony will help strengthen children’s testimonies of the gospel.
As children begin to learn a song, help them follow the direction of the melody by pitch-level conducting. This is done by moving your hand up and down according to the pitch in the melody. Your hand may also move back and forth slightly to show the length of the notes. In this way, pitch-level conducting illustrates the rhythm of the melody as well as the direction.
When the children have learned the song, you may want to use the standard beat patterns on the following page or a combination of pitch-level conducting and beat patterns.
Look at the top number of the time signature to determine the number of beats per measure (see “Explanation of Symbols and Terms,” p. 303). The tempo or speed of each song is indicated by the metronome marking (see “Tempo Markings,” p. 301).
For music with nine beats per measure, use the three-beat pattern (see “The Sacred Grove,” p. 87). For music with twelve beats per measure, use the four beat pattern (see “Baptism,” p. 100).
