Klarinet Archive - Posting 000754.txt from 1996/10
From: Paul Katula <Pkatula@-----.com> Subj: Re: Watch the Conductor! Was Re: Berlin Phil clarinetists? Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 16:08:29 -0500
Regarding watching vs. not watching the conductor...
Orchestras HAVE NO CHOICE but to REACT to the conductor, at least if
they are enjoying the experience of producing music (or getting paid
enough to be there). If the conductor's good, the orchestra will play
together and respond to his cues about the interpretation of the music.
Most of the time, good conductors lead, but sometimes they follow, such
as when a prima donna is onstage singing. If the conductor's good, it
doesn't matter whether you respond to what you hear or to what he's
conducting, since they'll be exactly the same thing. If the
conductor's bad, you should not follow him but listen to the other
musicians and play together, since that's the best you can hope for
with a bad conductor. Let's not get started about bad conductors. If
you want to make the conductor look bad (for example, if you don't like
the conductor), then it might be possible to ignore the conductor, but
this is really difficult in an ensemble situation of more than a few
people who can make eye contact readily for entrances and such.
Now, if the conductor has a consistent style, stick speed, beat
preparation, etc., then the natural reaction of the musicians to the
conductor will be to play together. If the conductor is inconsistent,
you'll find that sometimes it's not possible to be right with the
conductor. Also, some pieces of music have particularly difficult
preparations, which even virtuoso conductors won't do consistently from
one performance to the next. In these cases, the orchestra will do its
best to react to what the conductor does, and hopefully all the
musicians react the same way.
All conductors can ask for is that musicians respond to them. If
they're bad at conveying the necessary information non-verbally (or
verbally in rehearsals, though I have played for conductors who
verbalized during a performance), then they can't even ask for that.
-Paul Katula
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