Back to my old ways…
I gained two things during my months of conducting with a mask. First, I learned ever more clearly how to conduct with just my eyes and hands. I, like many conductors, tend to use my whole face, and it was a great education in how much the lower half of my face affected my students interpretation. Redirecting all that work to my hands was a challenge but one with clear benefits. Second, I tend to be thinking about all the other musical elements besides lyrics when I conduct in performance, and as a result, when I wore a mask I never once mouthed the wrong words in a performance or rehearsal.
Of course I relished the opportunity to make music maskless, as there are many advantages to not having your face covered in choral music. (!) But I’m doing best fight against habit to retain these two advantages from masked conducting.