Baton: yes or no?

The question: "Do I use a baton or not?" is a regular item, especially amongst novice conductors.

Origin and History

During the Baroque period until much later, musical works were not conducted the way we know today, but led by the "Maestro del cembalo" from the harpsichord. When during the eighteenth century the central role of the keyboard began to disappear gradually from the orchestra, the leading part went on to the principal violinst, the concertmaster. He indicated things using his bow.
When the complexity of musical works increased - e.g., Beethoven symphonies - the role of a separate conductor became inevitable. The position of the concertmaster moved to the central position in front of the orchestra. But even then it was not yet customary for the conductor to be in this central position throughout the whole performance. The bow of the concertmaster gradually shifted to the more manageable size of a baton. The role of the conductor as we know today originated during the romantic period, when also conducting as a profession started.

Use

A violinist who is playing and simultaniously leads the orchestra, will almost automatically wave his bow. Therefore it is not surprising that the first 'real' conductors took hold of a baton-like kind of stick. This makes the use of a baton also a matter of tradition. Are there other reasons to choose for a baton or not? Basically it comes down to the question whether the use of a baton will improve the musical result. This question cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. A baton may improve the result, but not necessarily. On the other hand, conducting with your hands may improve the result, but not necessarily.

A baton is generally a visible object and can therefore serve as a useful tool when conducting. But is it necessary? No. We can easily give that answer because there is an increasing number of orchestra conductors that do not use a baton and still achieve excellent results. I mention 'orchestra conductors' here deliberately, since choral conductors in general do not use a baton (they do not derived from the tradition of the conducting violinist - see above). Especially when conducting chamber choirs, given the group size, this seems unnecessary.

Baton or not?

Every orchestra conductor has to find the answer to this question by himself. However, keep in mind that the conducting technique will change with or without a baton and that whenever you made your choice, you should stick to it.

Unfortunately, we sometimes see conductors using the baton and during the slow-cantabile fragments almost casually fold away their baton and 'sensitively' conduct with their hands. Despite examples of some famous conductors (Bernstein), I woud not recommended it to novice conductors. Conducting turns into a sort of carnaval attraction in these cases, in which the ostentation of the conductor seems to be paramount. Nor is recommendable by the way to conduct with pencils, tuning forks or 10 centimeter long batons.

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