Klarinet Archive - Posting 000760.txt from 1996/10

From: Karl Krelove <kkrelove@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Watch the Conductor!
Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 21:48:23 -0500

Jacqueline Eastwood wrote:
> I'd like to know Fred's opinion about pit conductors, specifically. My
> spousal equivalent and I argue all the time about whether or not to watch
> the conductor (he's a timpanist, so has a larger ego than most). I say
> that since the conductor is coordinating the singers on stage with the
> pit orchestra, and since we can't see them, and can't hear them properly
> (we get all the nice reverb from the big halls!) that we should watch the
> conductor, especially in rubato or recit. passages. Russell disagrees --
> that if you watch the conductor, you will be late, so it's better to play
> with what you hear. Basically, he thinks that he is in charge of
> rhythm/tempo, and the hell with everyone else if they can't follow him!
> Any comments from those more experienced than I?
>
> Jacqueline

It really depends on how good the conductor is. I've played a lot of shows
when
the only way of staying together was to listen to the drummer because the
conductor, who may have been a competent vocal coach and may have known the book
backward and forward, couldn't conduct to save his soul. If the conductor is
clear and secure, sure, you try to follow him. And when ensemble is especially
tricky, so should the singers, so if there is a delayed response of any kind, it
should be happening on the stage as well as below it. If it's colla voce,
everyone is going to tend to be slightly behind the solo voice anyway, but at
least the accompaniment needs to be together with itself.
I've noticed a tendency through this whole thread for people to take black or
white positions - watch the conductor or don't watch the conductor. In any kind
of ensemble playing there is a constantly changing need to react to both visual
and aural feedback. You need always to be aware of how you fit with the
surrounding sound as well as what the conductor is TRYING to show you with the
stick. If they don't match you have a decision to make and your first concern
often then is to try not to embarrass yourself or anyone else. When an audience
is in the room, your first duty is to make the music sound good and if the
orchestra is ahead or behind the conductor it doesn't do anything for the
audience if you play to the stick and ignore the rest of the ensemble. In a
rehearsal the situation may be entirely different and if the conductor wants to
insist the orchestra stay on his beat no matter what, maybe that's what he
deserves until the audience comes into the hall. Depends on the security of the
orchestra and the level of cooperation/hostility between the players and the
conductor. There are almost always compromises to be made and the eye and ear
have to work together.