Baton down the hatches

Question: what do you call 100 conductors at the bottom of the ocean? If you answered “a good start,” you probably play in an orchestra.

Robert Levine and I are pleased to moderate what should be a lively discussion about musicians’ perceptions of, and reactions to, conductors. We don’t intend this to be an exchange of conductor jokes (which thankfully are replacing viola jokes! — both Robert and I are violists), but we do expect a certain amount of levity.

But our main goal is to provide a forum for constructive criticism. We rarely, if ever, get a chance to evaluate our boss, whose ability (or lack thereof) is so critically important to our own success in presenting a concert. Polyphonic is pleased to offer that rare opportunity — so critique away (without getting personal; we reserve the right to edit any comments made about a specific conductor).

We hope that our conductor colleagues will take heed and perhaps learn a few things from reading the exchange. We also hope that we musicians can share new perspectives on an age-old pastime: complaining about the person standing up on the podium waving his/her arms.

Robert set the stage for our panelists’ Day 1 posts by asking them to list five things they would change about the behavior of conductors in order to make working for them a more positive experience than it often is.