Mastering Conducting Techniques is a book of exercises intended for conducting students and conductors who wish to develop specific conducting skills. Haberlen has identified the fundamental skills that all competent conductors must master in order to conduct and interpret a score. The author states in his introduction that the skills set forth in his book will enable a conductor to apply solutions to technical conducting problems within a specific passage of a score. He asserts that to achieve efficient rehearsals and quality performances conductors need confident conducting patterns and clear gestures to communicate to the performers the score's music information.