What exactly does a music conductor do?

Question

Can a conductor that conducts a High School symphony also conduct a professional one?
What differentiates the two?
Seems like its easy to differ between a pro and amateur musician but conductor I don't see the importance.

Answer 1

This is an interesting question because there are a lot of bad conductors out there. The role of the conductor is a little different in a high school than in a professional orchestra. In a high school, their role involves a lot more teaching. In an orchestra, their role is a lot more to do with shaping the music. All the musicians will have good musicianship skills, but the conductor will help unify them- for instance, each musician might have a different interpretation about how to play a passage, but the conductor, by their gestures can show exactly how it should be played so that everyone plays it TOGETHER.

As far as tempos and time, the musicians don't need the conductor to tell them where every beat is if the music has steady time to begin with. If a passage is more rubato, or played more freely, then the conductor becomes important for that.

Conductors show dynamics, articulations, and phrasing in their gestures. Again, these are skills the musicians already have, so in some ways what a conductor is doing is reminding the musicians of how musicial they already are, and then helping them interpret the music the same way.

Sometimes there are long rests, and if the musicians don't knwo the music that well, they might count wrong and be unsure of where to come in. So, just to help the musicians in case they are unsure or miscount, conductors give cues for entrances. These cues also usually convey the kind of entrance (if it's a good conductor) like, if it's a gentle, quiet entrance, or if it's a really aggressive entrance, etc.

The conductor also conducts a lot of these things just by their face and their eyes, which is something not many people realize who haven't played in an orchestra or symphony.

The answer to the difference between the two conductors is that it depends on the conductor. The question is not so much COULD they conduct a pro orchestra, but would they be good at it? I had a high school conductor who WAS a pro conductor, but just decided he liked teaching high school best.

Some skills pros might have over amateurs, in addition to everything listed above, would be a greater knowledge about the history of a lot of music and why some things should be interpreted in certain ways (because somethings aren't notated exactly how they "should" be played)...small details that make the difference between good and great, that someone less knowledgeable wouldn't know about.

Answer 2

The conductor selects the music, decides on the interpretation of it, instructs the members of the orchestra how they should play the music, rehearses them and then "conducts" which means to insure that they follow the plan he laid out before with respect to timing, tempo, loudness etc. He has the very best "seat" in the house so as to hear all the components as clearly as possible in order to keep them executing properly.

If he has trained and rehearsed his orchestra sufficiently, it might be that little extra is required of him during the actual performance. The great conductor, Arturo Toscanini, died and his orchestra continued to play some of the pieces he had worked on with them for years and with no other conductor at the performance. This is very unusual.

What usually happens in a professional orchestra with a new conductor is that the members challenge the newcomer to see if he catches little mistakes. If he does not quickly earn the complete respect of the orchestra and instill his own discipline either benevolently or tyrannically, the orchestra's performance will degenerate into chaos. Zubin Mehta once described the New York Philharmonic as an orchestra that eats new conductors alive.

Answer 3

When you're playing in an ensemble -- and even if you don't -- do you see when the conductor stops you and tells you to play something differently? To pay attention to a certain dynamic, articulation, style, to tell a section to back off or play louder, etc.? What about the band teacher in middle and high schools? Outside of waving the stick, they teach the child how to play the music and guide them through the interpretation process. The conductor guides the ensemble through interpreting the music for themselves (and for the conductor) and helps give life to the music. Without the conductor, no one could start the music, tell each other how it sounds, or do anything more than just play what's on the page. That's only a small part of it...it's a huge job, often intimidating, but invaluable.

Answer 4

In addition to setting the speed of the music, the conductor provides other input to the performers. The conductor also can adjust the volume of the entire orchestra, a section, or even an individual. A skilled conductor in front of an attentive orchestra can even clue in individuals when they are playing out of tune. Overall, the conductor's job is to make sure that the orchestra plays together and is well-balanced. An advanced conductors job is much more, it is to portray to the composer's ideas of the piece to the orchestra. It is much harder to become a professional conductor, they have much more prestidge and they make a lot more money.

Answer 5

they set the tempo for the orchestra to follow. when to play certain beats and such.
its kinda like a train. each person is a car. and the conductor keeps em runnin

Answer 6

Conducts an orcestra, to follow a patteren of similar music, and are also very good site readers.

Answer 7

He/she directs the music performance through a series of visible gestures, by which means he conveys to a group of musicians ---- be it an orchestra, choir, opera or band --- who should play, and in what sequence.

Answer 8

I HAVE NO IDEA, THE CONDUCTORS GET SO WILD UP THERE . IT LOOKS LIKE A FLY IS BOTHERING THEM AND THEY ARE TRYING TO SWAT IT. I THINK ITS 99% SHOW.

Answer 9

He or she waves a baton and controls how fast , quickly, etc.the orchestra plays

Answer 10

if you're not a conductor you will never understand