In conducting music, the right hand follows certain patterns of up, down, left, and right to represent a rhythm.  Each movement of the conductor's arm describes a beat, and the performers will only play beats as the conductor delivers them.   Assigning Motions to Beats A piece of music in 4/4 time has four beats in every bar.  The beats count out, 'one, two, three, four, one two, three, four.'  The conductor prepares the orchestra by raising his right hand, which alerts them that the first beat is coming immediately.  When he drops his hand, they play the first beat.  As he moves his hand to his left, they play the second beat.  As he moves his hand to his right, they play the third beat.  He lifts his hand back to the initial position to signal the fourth beat, and he can begin the next measure in the same way. The pattern shown in red is called '4-beat espressivo legato,' which refers to the way the pattern is curved.  Conductors emote the 'feel' of the music by making their gestures more or less abrupt. 4/4 Time on the Digital Conductor The Digital Conductor is designed to detect the conducting gestures mentioned above, as well as gestures for 3-beat music.  The heart of the detection system is the 'laser square.'  This 'square' consists of three laser beams at right angles, and it provides a beam to be broken with each stroke of the conducting pattern.  When a beam is broken by a hand or baton, the Digital Conductor detects the interruption to the beam, and registers a beat.  It takes some practice to get acquainted with the laser square so that your baton naturally breaks one beam per beat - at first you might find yourself inadvertently breaking several beams with each gesture. The Digital Conductor is designed to respond to the timing of your conducting motions.  It does not register dynamics or accents at all.  It is not a perfect substitute for a live musician, because there is no such substitute at all.  However, you can learn a lot by experimenting with the tempi of a piece.   Real musicians 'know what you mean,' by your tempo gestures, even if you drop or slop a beat.  Because the MIDI response of the Digital Conductor is so unforgivingly exact, it demands clean, consistent rhythm from its conductor. 3/4 Time on the Digital Conductor When you want to conduct music in 3/4 time (or 3/2 time) with the Digital Conductor, you can use the 'down, right, up' pattern.  3/4 time is conducted on the right side of the laser square.  As you move the baton down, break the top beam to deliver the 1-beat.  For the 2-beat, move the baton to the right, breaking the right-side laser beam.  Finally, for the third beat, move the baton left and up, breaking both the right-side and top laser beams. How does this work?  Isn't each beat supposed to interrupt only one laser beam?  Yes, but this is the one exception.  When the Digital Conductor is in '3-beat' mode, it always ignores the second interruption of the right-side beam, so that only three of the four interruptions are 'counted.'  To match the Digital Conductor's 'count' of your beats with the music, remember to always start the 1-beat when the yellow light is lit.  This is important because the Digital Conductor relies on its count to ignore the correct stroke of the baton.  Once you have begun conducting, you can forget about the yellow light and conduct naturally.