Essentials in Conducting

Karl Wilson Gehrkens, named on the title page as Professor of School Music at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, wrote Essentials in Conducting. The contents list chapters on personal traits necessary in conducting, the technique of the baton, and interpretation, taken through tempo, dynamics, and timbre and phrasing. Another chapter is called "The Supervisor of Music as Conductor." The book is dedicated to the memory of Robert C. Bedford, for many years secretary of the board of trustees of Tuskegee Institute.

In the text, the would-be conductor is told to study piano, organ, singing, ear-training, harmony and the history of music, and to learn to read three and four voices on separate staffs, as in a vocal score. Another passage discusses community gatherings, where a piece such as the Pilgrims' Chorus from Tannhäuser is welcomed by many. Reading lists name books on interpretation and on the orchestra, among them works by Matthay, Lavignac, Mason, Corder, Prout, Kling and Henderson.