conductors and conducting

I know this is a subject which is the source of endless running in circles in the orchestra world, but I’m going to put my own two cents worth in now.

Let me first put out the following caveats:

• I understand that conducting is a difficult thing to do, if it were otherwise, more people would be doing it well than are at present.

• I also understand that conducting involves having a large ego: if you’re going to convince 80 – 100 highly trained and egotistical orchestral musicians to do something your way, you’d better be sure of yourself and your methods.

Rather than harp on specific circumstances, I’m just going to make some helpful, constructive, and likely sarcastic suggestions, directly to the conductors out there. I know it’s akin to spitting into the face of a tornado in its likely effectiveness, but I’m an optimist at heart, so here goes.

1. If it seems very evident that the orchestra cannot hear itself (across the stage, from front to back, etc) please make your beat more concise – this is not the time to beat as though one is folding egg whites while listening to Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun by Debussy. A firm click of an ictus would be so appreciated, you might even see some moist eyes avoiding your gaze as you look up from the score.
2. If something isn’t together, and it’s in a quick tempo and a very soft dynamic, don’t beat wildly and with huge gestures. You’ll just slow down and we’ll just play louder.
3. If we’re playing a tricky ensemble passage but it’s a bit too loud and there are some agogic accents, don’t stop and berate us – we’re doing this to hear each other and to play together. If, on the other hand, you’re interested in a undifferentiated wash of indistinct sound, please continue with whatever you were about to tell us.
4. Let’s say we’re doing a piece that the orchestra has never performed before in its entire history. Don’t, on the first run-through, stop every five or six bars and tell us what we did wrong. Chances are, we know it, but we’re just trying to get through the movement or piece to get the lay of the land.
5. If you’ve got something to say to us, first ask yourself, could I have shown them with my hands and eyes what I wanted? If the answer is yes, ask yourself what you did wrong, then try the passage again. If every time you stop and tell us stuff that you could (and should) have easily (or not easily) shown us instead, we will little by little lose what respect we had for you at the beginning of the rehearsal.
6. Remember that there are two types of musicians in the orchestra: those who want to give you every chance to succeed and who expect that you’ll deliver the goods, and those who started that way but gave up years ago and now hate you before you even conduct a single beat. If you give us a reason to play well for you by providing a clear beat, sound musical ideas, and sincerely impassioned performances, then you’ll win over 99% of musicians (the other 1% hate even themselves, so you’re out of luck there).
7. Be self-aware. I know this seems like poor advice for those who think that all conductors are born narcissists, but be aware of what you’re doing in front of the orchestra. If you are beating 5/8 bars so that they actually become 6/8 bars, don’t stop and blame us for doing it. We’re supposed to follow you, and if you screw up something like that, we’ll follow you all the more to make sure that you get what you want. Likewise, if you rush, don’t blame us for it.
8. Learn how to rehearse efficiently. You have 2 hours and 15 minutes to get what you want done in each rehearsal. When you signed your guesting agreement, you were told what our break structure and work rules were, so don’t suddenly act amazed that we have a musicians’ union in America and that we alone have rules that govern our working conditions. We know that they do in Europe, too – we weren’t born yesterday.
9. Extra-musical instruction can be helpful, but in small quantities. Give us the basics we need in order to be inspired to get the sound that you want. You can explain that the opening of Shostakovich 11th represents the bitter cold morning in Red Square in Moscow. We get that – and we’ll know how to make the cold, thin sound that you desire. Do not, however, give us an extended discourse on the current scholarship concerning Shostakovich’s political inclinations and the command structure of the Soviet military. We’ll start gnawing off our own hands and feet after about 1 minute, so keep it simple.
10. Remember: money talks and bullshit walks. Pay us the courtesy and attention that we need, and we’ll do so in kind, many times over. The respect of an orchestra is not automatic, it is earned, and not easily. Take what we give you in response to what you ask, and you might find an interpretive option which you had not thought of before. If we respect you (and this isn’t the same as liking you, remember), we’ll go to the ends of the earth to give you what you want – so give us a fresh reason to be “on” for each night of the performance run. Make sure that phrases aren’t the exact carbon copy of the rehearsals, if the orchestra goes in a slightly different direction than we’d gone the previous night, go with us slightly and see where that puts us. Chamber music rocks – remember that always.