Great Expectations

Wow, the week has gone by fast! It’s been great to interact with so many of you on such an interesting topic. Before closing I want to respond to a question from yesterday and discuss one last comparison between expectations versus reality. I read Matt’s statement from Day 4 this morning before heading out to rehearse Don Juan with our former music director and thought a lot about his question regarding “the relationship between player and podium”……during rests of course!

Although conductors are easy targets for musicians to vent frustrations against, most of us know how truly difficult it is to be a really good conductor and I respect musicians like Matt who are willing to pursue what I believe is an even more challenging career choice than that of orchestral musician. While there are too many good musicians to fill the relatively few openings each year, I find the opposite to be true of conductors. We recently concluded a two year search for our next music director and it was very difficult to find someone who could potentially fulfill most of our orchestra’s needs.

In addition to knowing more about the music than anyone else on stage and having the charisma to inspire, conductors today must also master a wide variety of other skills including but not limited to, organizational leadership, musician psychology and politics, public relations, and fundraising. It is very hard to find conductors who can do all of this really well. Gaining experience is also very hard for young conductors, if only they could “pick up a live orchestra” to practice in the same way that musicians can pick up their instruments for hours each day. Perhaps then there might be more good conductors available than there are opportunities.

More to the question Matt posed about the relationship between conductor and musician, I have been in long term situations with both dictatorial conductors and conductors who were weak leaders, too open and easily influenced by others. Both situations were equally bad in my view. For me the ideal situation lives somewhere in the middle. Matt is correct that with professional orchestras, rehearsal time is quite limited and there really isn’t time for collaborative decisions with musicians about interpretive matters. Depending on the conductor, I have found that most of them are open to gentle suggestions about such matters but only privately and in situations were mutual respect between the two is established. I have also found that both conductors and musicians appreciate questions being asked outside of rehearsal time unless there is no way to avoid it. Efficiency during rehearsals is always desired, and musicians and conductors can score big points with each other when it happens.

On a new subject, it occurred to me during an orchestra meeting this afternoon while listening to a report on a recent board meeting, that my own expectations of orchestra boards before winning a job compared to reality was very different. I imagined that boards would be just as passionate about live orchestral music as I was and would use their wealth and influence to do whatever had to be done to support and sustain the orchestras they controlled.

From my experience in Columbus however, including a two year term as a board member, I have found this not to be the case. Here it is very hard to find wealthy and/or influential people who are truly passionate and inspired by orchestral music. Oftentimes board members know very little about orchestras and are sent mainly as representatives of their respective companies. Our board as a group has historically placed the financial bottom line as the top priority above everything else and sometimes at the direct expense of the musicians and management. Like many cities in the mid-west, Columbus is controlled by financially conservative people who are deeply devoted to college and professional sports. Although they could easily support our orchestra due to their wealth and power, they choose not to.

This is not a judgment against them. I’m sure that if they appreciated us, they would support us. Instead I believe they reflect the culture now prevalent in most of our country. Although musicians are often in conflict with boards and managements, I believe the true challenge facing all of us together is the lack of appreciation and support from everyday consumers. If orchestras suddenly became popular, imagine how quickly most of our problems would disappear. Such cultural change may be impossible to achieve but how it might be accomplished could be an excellent subject for a future virtual discussion panel.

I’ve really enjoyed being a part of this discussion and want to thank everyone at polyphonic for the chance to participate. I believe that being an orchestral musician is truly a calling for many of us and an essential part of our basic identities. Although we spend a lot of time discussing the problems of our profession, most of us know how lucky we are to be able to do this. My hope is that initiatives like polyphonic will help all of us to figure out new ways to ensure the long term survival and success of our orchestras.