The Short End of the Stick

Once again, Robert Levine and I are moderating a discussion panel about conductors, but this time we want to let the conductors share with musicians their perspectives on conducting and making music.

Musicians are famous for complaining about conductors – we don’t like your tempo, we don’t understand your beat, you talk too much, you don’t talk enough, you jump around too much, you’re too stiff, etc., etc., etc. Well, now it’s time for the conductors to have a turn.

We want to know what bugs you about symphony musicians – we’re pretty sure you don’t like it when we cross our legs, chew gum, talk during rehearsal, don’t pay attention, look sullen, tell jokes that we don’t share with you, etc. But in a serious context, what do you feel musicians aren’t sharing with you in terms of making music: where could we help you / respond to you / communicate with you in different ways that would further the goal of achieving your interpretation of a composition? But then again, should we??? What’s your job and what’s our job in this complicated process of making music?

There are so many issues to discuss: what is it like to conduct a stage full of 100+ people? What does it feel like to really connect with a section during a passage? Pierre Monteux used the analogy that conducting an orchestra is like riding a race horse – when do you give the horse his head, and when do you guide him? When do you let the oboist / flutist / whomever play the solo unaided, and when do you shape the solo for/with the player?