Klarinet Archive - Posting 000795.txt from 2000/06

From: "Karl Krelove" <kkrelove@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Conductors (was Re: klarinet Digest 20 Jun 2000 08:15:00 -0000 Issue 2338)
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 16:47:55 -0400

> -----Original Message-----
> From: William Wright [mailto:Bilwright@-----.net]
> This is probably a naive question on my part. I haven't played
> (yet) in a band or orchestra, or even watched a conductor closely, and
> I'm wondering if I understand you correctly. I suppose you're saying
> that the arm motions of some conductors don't make the tempo or 'beat'
> obvious? Or is there something else here that I'm missing?
>
> Thanks,
> Bill
>
Every conductor has his or her own idiosyncrasies. Some want the orchestra
to respond exactly on the "ictus" (the little wrist click that actually
marks the beat most of the time) somewhere at the bottom of their motion
(most school conductors, including college level, as well as many "pros").
Others place the "ictus" at the top of each motion (or at least want the
orchestra to respond at the top - Ormandy was one example I watched and sang
under).

Many orchestra conductors expect, tolerate, and even encourage the strings,
for all kinds of generally obscure reasons, to sound after their beat,
forcing the winds and percussion, whose "attack" is much more definite, to
guess when to start notes. And then, once the music has started and everyone
can hear when the beats are, they frequently conduct effects early on the
theory that they're anticipating and thus "setting up" the response they
want. In an experienced orchestra that's used to playing together,
especially if it's used to playing with the specific conductor, the "beat"
becomes a kind of collective decision made more by ear than by sight.

The problem is when these same conductors, for mostly egotistical reasons,
then interfere by insisting that the orchestra actually "follow" them. A
sudden inspiration to change a tempo or dynamic gradation then causes a new
guessing game in the orchestra, as the players have to decide if the
conductor meant it or not, which can easily lead to train wrecks in
inexperienced orchestras or even "pick-up" orchestras made up of players
contracted for a specific concert who normally don't play together.

Of course, if asked, most conductors would probably deny that the "beat" was
their main concern anyway, and most orchestra players will insist they can
play together just fine with *no* beat from the podium, so everyone ought to
be perfectly happy with the status quo I've described.

;-)

Karl Krelove

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