For Dr Aleta King, the release of Handing on the Baton: The Conductor as Musicianship Mentor is not simply the publication of a book, it’s the closing of one chapter and the quiet beginning of another.
“It’s a strange feeling,” she reflects. “Relief, mostly. And satisfaction. When you write something like a doctoral thesis, it takes all of your heart and soul.”
Originally developed as her doctoral research, the book explores King’s Conductor as Musicianship Mentor (CMM) model, an approach that repositions the conductor not just as a musical leader, but as an educator shaping the musicianship of every performer in the room. Grounded in real rehearsal and performance contexts, the model is tested through three major works: Bach’s Cantata BWV182, Fauré’s Requiem, and Jenkins’ The Armed Man.
But what sets King’s work apart is not just its academic rigour, it’s its lived reality. “This wasn’t theory for theory’s sake,” she says. “It grew out of the rehearsal room. Out of working with real musicians, solving real problems, and thinking deeply about what it means to lead musically.” That intersection, between conducting, teaching, and mentoring, sits at the heart of the book. It’s a space King believes has often been overlooked. “There’s a tendency to separate performance from pedagogy,” she explains. “But in practice, they’re inseparable. Every rehearsal is a teaching moment. Every gesture, every decision, it shapes how musicians think, listen, and perform.”
The journey to publication, however, was not immediate. After completing her thesis, King deliberately stepped away from it. “I needed distance,” she admits. “When you’ve poured that much of yourself into something, you need time before you can come back to it with fresh eyes.” Returning to the work through the publishing process brought an unexpected surprise. “I actually enjoyed reading it again,” she says, smiling. “That was a really nice moment, realising that the ideas still resonated, that they still felt meaningful.”
One of the most personal elements of the book is its cover image: a photograph of a medieval Guidonian Hand, sourced from a 14th-century manuscript held in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. King travelled to England to capture it herself, spending a brief two-hour window examining the rare text. “That was special,” she says. “It felt like a connection to a long lineage of musical teaching and learning.”
Now in print, the book represents what King describes as a “small but significant contribution” to the field. Aleta also wants it to be known that she had a strong support system around her as she wrote this book. “I couldn’t have done this without the people around me, my supervisors, mentors, colleagues, friends, family. It’s never a solo achievement.”
At Avondale, where she serves as Director of Music, the ideas in the book continue to play out daily in her work with students. “Ultimately, they’re the legacy,” she says. “If this research changes the way they think about music-making, if it helps them become more thoughtful, more responsive musicians, then that’s what matters.”
As for what comes next, King is ready to turn her attention in a new direction. “I feel like I’ve drawn a line under this particular area of research,” she says. “But the principles will stay with me. They’ll keep shaping how I teach, how I conduct.”Her next ambition is something more personal: composing and arranging. “That’s the dream,” she says. “To spend more time creating music, not just interpreting it. Watch this space!” For now, though, Handing on the Baton stands as both culmination and a gift, a work that captures years of thinking, making, and mentoring, and offers it forward to the next generation of musicians.