So This is How Conductors ACTUALLY Work?!

when we think of some of the greatest moments in orchestral music it's hard not to visualize the image of a conductor when I was starting out I remember my baton would shake the job carries a lot of Glamor high stakes and Prestige but what the conductor actually does is almost kept secret from the public at the most basic level there are two ways of making ensemble so I want to know what exactly is the role of the conductor and why do we need them I investigated this topic and while doing so I uncovered gold nuggets of knowledge that I think can help any musician out there improve what you do tenfold we can learn exceptional insights about timing interpretation and collaboration by learning how a conductor tackles these big concerns the Catalyst for this trail of thought was when I got to sit down with one of the most established and influential conductors of our time Alan Gilbert while spending a day at the elf filler money when I was starting out I remember my baton would Shake the beginning of concerts so I would even start the concert holding the Baton of my left hand and conduct without a baton Alan Gilbert has been leading some of the best orchestras in the world while being known for his Innovative programming wherever he goes since 2019 he's been the chief of conductor of hamburg's ndr el filomoni Orchestra and music director of the royal Swedish Opera since 2021. previously he was the music director of the New York Philharmonic for eight years and this is personally why I was so awestruck by this meeting I attended many of his performances while being a music student in the city so it was really quite a thrill to hear him speak in detail about what it takes to direct an orchestra both in rehearsal and in performance part of the way the sort of musical impulse goes through the orchestra is by essentially starting a wave as the conductor and then that wave transmits through through the players across the stage in my previous video about the Acoustics at the alpha money I covered some of the amazing details behind the design and art architecture of the hall and how it was built to support the sound of a symphony orchestra in this episode I'm diving deeper into the role of the conductor who is arguably the most important person on stage at any orchestral concert I mentioned in that first video that the hall was built in a way where the conductor's podium is no more than 30 meters away from any one of the 2100 seats so what the conductor does visually is extremely important not only to the Musicians on stage but to the whole Concert Experience for the audience so let's begin first a bit of background conducting has a rather Grand history I mean the earliest report of conducting is a fairycites of patriot who waved a golden staff in time for 800 performers in 709 BCE not a bad start it was also apparently a deadly profession for example Jean-Baptiste Luli famously died from the infection caused by stabbing his toe with the large stick he used to conduct musicians in 1687. in the Baroque and classical periods it was rather common for the keyboardists to lead The Ensemble and in some cases like many English orchestras of the 19th century it wasn't uncommon to have two directors one violinist and one keyboard player quite Democratic I must say for the greater part of music history composers were actually the ones conducting as written music became more and more complex the art of conducting had to adapt in order to handle the repertoire you get one bar right you get a lot right since the 1800s it's been customary for conductors to use a baton to provide a visible cue for keeping time while standing on a slightly elevated Podium conductors like Mendelson Weber and schwar actually face the audience while conducting but gradually this shifted so that nowadays the conductor faces the orchestra have you developed this kind of sixth sense to really feel the audience that's a great question I love that because I actually do talk to my students about having an awareness of the whole room and also having an aura that fills the whole Space it's important not to be too in yourself that being said for a haul like the alpha money you can actually choose whatever view you want of the conductor some of our favorite composers were in charge of pioneering some techniques involved in conducting Fran's list for example can be credited for inventing new gestures that expressed more phrasing and emotion rather than just meter Hector berlios was a key figure in creating the Persona of the modern conductor the all-hearing Maestro and was the first to use rehearsal letters and sectional rehearsals Arturo tuscanini continued to build up the image of the conductor by famously being tyrannical and conducting from memory many of Music history's most iconic figures continue to be conductors such as Herbert von karion Pierre boules Leonard Bernstein and Carlos kleiber just to name a few in the following sections I've narrowed down three areas of focus that I think are important to talk about while covering the art of conducting Section 1 timing let's start with just the facts in most cases conductors aren't actually making any direct sound and if so probably not on purpose the whole Symphony Orchestra is a conductor's instrument and even though the music is already precisely written down with detailed instructions it's a massive feat to have dozens of musicians playing at the same time at the most basic level there are two ways of making Ensemble and that's following the sort of inner pulse so if you're playing a say Mozart Symphony in the second violence that next note has to come after the eighth note but then there are times where the melody should lead the accompaniment so you can either you can go from two different sides so if there's a song say where you want to linger on one word even if the accompaniment is a kind of regular rhythmic pattern maybe that pattern has to be a little bit flexible and fluid to allow the melody to have the shape that it wants so it's a constant back and forth sometimes the melody sometimes they Rhythm leads so does this mean that if you have a great sense of timing and a handle on gesturing with the Baton you can be a conductor well not exactly the real work of a conductor involves much more than helping with coordination this brings us to our next section having a game plan and a vision what I got to witness at the alpha Armani with some backstage access was just how complex it is to manage a single rehearsal watching Alan Gilbert lead the ndr El philomony Orchestra in their dress rehearsal for a performance of the Mahler second Symphony showed me so much about the power of having a clear strategy in the rehearsals leading up to a performance a challenge with a huge piece like Mueller second because you want to make sure everybody is feeling good and confident and we've covered everything we need to without tiring them out because it's such a demanding work and there's so much stamina and concentration that's required and if you give it all too soon sometimes you don't have it when you need it for a rehearsal like this I really planned it very carefully I knew exactly which spots I wanted to do and which spots I thought we could leave but what I haven't strategy is to work on what is necessary so each time I don't approach a piece assuming that it will feel the same or go the same way that it did before you have to react to What happens in the moment and the chemistry with different groups and also in different days and different seasons and you know there's so many variables that come into play what I think all musicians can take away from this is to have Clarity of intention whenever we tackle a piece of music especially in a practice or rehearsal session and to be observant and flexible enough to adjust things as we go conductors are Masters at this somebody has to decide where the right where the goals are what are we trying to achieve here what are we trying to achieve that what are we trying to say what is the narrative these are Universal questions that can help any musician improve the quality of their music as we narrow into this topic one of my dear friends Julio Elizalde comes to mind it helps to think like a conductor in terms of that you are in charge of a lot of different types of energy all at once it is really important for you to have a vision of how the Music Works before you sit down and practice it Julio is one of the most sought after pianists of Our Generation especially for chamber music and has been working with world-class violinists such as Ray Chen and Sarah Chang he also teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and I've noticed that he has some great insights on how all musicians can adopt a conductor's mindset to handle complex musical issues what types of problems can thinking like a conductor solve whether you're playing by yourself or with people there still has to be that kind of musical Clarity and you have to create this multi-part texture that's active as an instrumentalist you get so consumed in the execution of your part and I think that can it can help to kind of just keep one person in your brain as operating the instrument and the other person is actually on the outside trying to balance trying to create some some interest that's not just the same what is the difference between a baseline that might be played by a cello or bass or a tuba or an inner line that's played by a viola versus a clarinet that changes your approach to Rhythm it changes your approach to color it changes your approach to the way you blend all the parts and I think just allowing yourself to think beyond the one sound that the piano produces can make whatever you're playing sound way more interesting any Sonata that I will play with a violinist or cellist that is not that dissimilar from one of those instrumentalists playing with an orchestra and a conductor leading a full Orchestra there's so much to gain just by observing how a conductor manages all of the parts in the music and essentially how they manage people which brings us to the next section leadership and social dynamics orchestras can smell a fraud instantly I hope I'm not a fraud so I don't I don't think that that's really the issue but chemistry is a very curious thing you never know exactly how it's going to work out and it's like with people I mean you know if you're a nice person there's a good chance that you'll get along with almost everybody but sometimes there's a you know there's something that just doesn't quite work and you hope you don't have one of those cases when you're going to meet a new Orchestra just imagine for a second how hard it is to get everyone in a small board meeting to agree on one thing now imagine having to unify the sound of more than a hundred people on stage for a piece like the mall or second Symphony you not only have to direct the different sections of the orchestra but a full choir and soloist as well you have to listen to the entire picture of the sound on the stage and not necessarily know every single note that every single instrument is playing but you have to know the function of what's going on from every part of the orchestra at all times sometimes orchestras get frustrated because the conductor is trying to fix something that the orchestra feels at least that the conductor caused the problems wouldn't exist if it they feel if it were a better conductor and so if the conductor is trying to fix something that they actually maybe broke in the first place that's that can be awkward you know I I teach a lot and I love to work with young conductors and that's what I try to help them do I try to help them first of all conduct in a way that only is um positive and leads to better results but um doesn't blame the orchestra for things that they actually should be fixing themselves so I was actually able to talk about this directly with the members of the orchestra and the choir we try to be perfect that's what we do when as classical musicians of course and in a choir you have of course somehow the tension of the group you're expected to be world class but it's not possible to be perfect so you try your very best you can never explain to anyone that I don't know 150 people are doing the same thing in the same time and that's so incredible that it works right and there's a conductor and that it really works whether a performance works or not is also decided by the public you can never do it alone when you're the performer and I really love that idea that you always work together this was so moving to me to watch so many people with a collective Vision so dedicated to their work having a sense of community and all working towards the final performance this is why I really believe that having a deeper understanding of just what it takes to put an orchestra and a concert like this together especially from the perspective of a conductor can add further depth to how we as musicians and audience members experience the music that we really love a massive thank you to El filimoni for making this video happen and if you enjoyed this topic and want to learn more about timing I have a video on the importance of tempo which you can check out here make sure to like comment and subscribe thank you so much

Channel: Nahre Sol

Views: 179,535

Keywords: piano, music composition, harmony, music theory, nahre sol, classical music, improvisation, pianist, film scoring, jazz, modern music, conducting, elbphilharmonie, timing, music interpretation, orchestra, hamburg, germany, best music advice, alan gilbert, julio elizalde

Id: lS64HqZbWHM

Length: 13min 31sec (811 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 17 2022