Baton down the hatches

I remember once having to respond to a reporter, because I was on the search committee for a new conductor, to answer the question, “what are the musicians looking for in a conductor.” I said, “God.” And then we both laughed because we both knew there was an element of truth in the response.

Everyone so far has already mentioned many of the things that bring out our best or our worst when it comes to leadership from the podium. I would add a sense of humour(yes, we Canadians like our “u’s”!). I’ve seen an atmosphere of fear and “reign of terror” with a new conductor turn completely around when the conductor said or did something that cracked up the whole orchestra. We then became one cohesive unit that was willing to go through fire (or at least Firebird) for her/him.

Another trait I admire is admittance of guilt. We’ve all experienced the conductors who administer the death ray when we mess up; but then when they make a mistake in rehearsal, they’ll stop and try to deflect that with a criticism of some section or individual’s playing, even though everyone knew the impending train wreck was of their doing. So a conductor who admits they too are human gets a lot of points in my book.

Here’s the one that keeps me from joining the dark side: sense of rhythm in the stick. Many are simply time-beaters; others look like they’re gesturing for Conductors Idol; but the good ones communicate internal rhythm. How they do that seems to be as closely guarded as the Caramilk secret. And probably more valuable.

Intonation, intonation, intonation. This gets glossed over a lot. Or they address it but don’t know how. The best conductors evolve an orchestra to a higher level. But this won’t happen if the conductor simply dictates up or down in pitch like air traffic ground crew. The best thing I’ve seen is the conductor having the basses/cellos play the tonic and then asking the musicians to tune to the strings. That way listening and playing in tune improves both individually and collectively.

And even though everyone agrees it drives us nuts when conductors stop and start ad nauseum, to take what is said and how it is said is important. If it is something that can’t be communicated with the stick, or if the conductor is communicating it with the stick but the musician(s)is not addressing it, then communicating that is appreciated.

And because I know my brass playing colleagues will buy me a beer for mentioning it, I will close with the brass player pet peeve – getting the hand. There is nothing that loses more points with the brass section nor does more damage in the response from the player/section than giving the brass player the hand. This is particularly true when playing a solo, even if it is soft. The hand pointed palm out translates, as every traffic cop knows, into “STOP.” That means stop using your air, suck it back in. This often results in a kak. So whoever out there is teaching this in conducting school, stop it! If you want something soft or softer, go with palms down and you’ll get a thumbs up from the brass (and maybe a beer, though that might be pushing it). Cheers.