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Posted on 5/25/21 at 8:12 am to THRILLHO
Some knowledge has been kicked herein.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 8:24 am to THRILLHO
Yes! I been saying this for years. What a sham.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:01 am to THRILLHO
quote:
I've always been suspicious. I've been watching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's 9th (LINK ) and most of these frickers aren't even looking at the conductor. Really only the singers are paying attention, and it seems like they need way less guidance than the instrument players. If so, how have they been getting away with it for hundreds of years?
Tell me you don’t know shite about music without telling me you don’t know shite about music
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:02 am to Vote4MikeAck504
From my own experience, like a good coach, a good conductor can get more from his ensemble. During rehearsals, but also in the energy they may give via their conducting style.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:02 am to lostinbr
quote:
Are tablets a thing for professional orchestras?
I've yet to see this but I expect it at some point. There have been tablets for sheet music for many years. These are usually for individuals to keep their repertoire with them. I can see a great advantage of a tablet for recording studio orchestras. Changes can be made by the copyist on the stage and with the press of a button update the parts on the stands. There are a lot of hurdles to get past first, though. One of the biggest is that the players need to be able to mark up their parts; bowings, cues, articulations etc. So any electronic tablet needs to be able to accept those and keep them when a part change occurs. And what happens when one of the tablets (or the way I envision it, the tablet is part of the stand) goes down. How is that swapped out quickly and efficiently?
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:07 am to THRILLHO
Everything I know comes from Whiplash. Don't cross the conductor IMO
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:19 am to Bjorn Cyborg
Most orchestras give many different concerts a year, meaning they spend easily less than month rehearsing the same piece (which can be well over an hour long in some cases), probably closer to a couple of weeks for most works (some of the bigger symphonies a little more).
And yes, musicians learn the piece well during that time and often times have performed or practiced the piece before, but they also need to remember all the comments the conductor tells them or any other notes/reminders for themselves/their section. Orchestras will have guest conductors conduct fairly frequently, and how they want a piece to be played can vary quite a bit from other conductors. Many instruments will have extended periods of rests where they might not play for 200+ measures, so having indications of where they are in the piece is helpful so they can come in at the right place. They also are expected to perform at an incredibly high level of precision, so having the sheet music on stage provides extra security in what can be a fairly high-pressure environment.
Marching band is similar in some aspects. In many colleges, bands will learn different shows for given weeks. They usually only start the new shows about a week and a half before they perform them (at least, this was the norm for Tigerband). Keep in mind that the vast majority of these students aren’t music majors. They’re people who just enjoy music and are there to have fun, and they have other priorities above band, so expecting them to memorize all the music for a new show/stand tune very quickly isn’t always realistic.
And yes, musicians learn the piece well during that time and often times have performed or practiced the piece before, but they also need to remember all the comments the conductor tells them or any other notes/reminders for themselves/their section. Orchestras will have guest conductors conduct fairly frequently, and how they want a piece to be played can vary quite a bit from other conductors. Many instruments will have extended periods of rests where they might not play for 200+ measures, so having indications of where they are in the piece is helpful so they can come in at the right place. They also are expected to perform at an incredibly high level of precision, so having the sheet music on stage provides extra security in what can be a fairly high-pressure environment.
Marching band is similar in some aspects. In many colleges, bands will learn different shows for given weeks. They usually only start the new shows about a week and a half before they perform them (at least, this was the norm for Tigerband). Keep in mind that the vast majority of these students aren’t music majors. They’re people who just enjoy music and are there to have fun, and they have other priorities above band, so expecting them to memorize all the music for a new show/stand tune very quickly isn’t always realistic.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:31 am to THRILLHO
Most of the conductor's work is done in practice and preparation.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:41 am to THRILLHO
quote:
I've always been suspicious.
I think they are faking it. None of the orchestra is looking at them anyways.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:55 am to THRILLHO
as someone who played in the symphonic setting, you don't really need to be looking directly at the conductor to be getting guidance from him. This most of what the conductor is doing up there is cues that can be seen out of the corner of your eye as you are looking at music and has been well rehearsed in rehearsal. Also, by the time you get to a performance the conductor has hammered the tempo/volume changes into your head well enough that you probably don't need to look. I guess all this to say a conductor earns his keep BEFORE the crowd really sees him
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:56 am to THRILLHO
I remember the Air Force Concert Band performing at Mississippi State around 2009 or so. The expert musicians were following behind the beat of the conductor just a bit, as is common, but when MSU's Director of Bands, Elva Kaye Lance, guest conducted a march, what a difference it made. The band sat up, paid attention, and played together better under her baton, right on the beat, (and she was having fun and showboating just a bit with her conducting style) than they did under Colonel Lang.
My favorite recording of Beethoven's 9th came just after the fall of the Berlin Wall when Leonard Bernstein conducted one of his last concerts, the Berlin Celebration Concert 1989. Watch Bernstein and tell me that the musicians aren't following him.
My favorite recording of Beethoven's 9th came just after the fall of the Berlin Wall when Leonard Bernstein conducted one of his last concerts, the Berlin Celebration Concert 1989. Watch Bernstein and tell me that the musicians aren't following him.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 9:59 am to THRILLHO
quote:
I've always been suspicious. I've been watching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's 9th (LINK ) and most of these frickers aren't even looking at the conductor. Really only the singers are paying attention, and it seems like they need way less guidance than the instrument players. If so, how have they been getting away with it for hundreds of years?
The conductor has been working with the players for a significant period of time prior to the actual performance.
Posted on 5/25/21 at 10:16 am to johnqpublic
quote:
Not sure what you are seeing. I watched the first 30 seconds of the first movement. Muti gives at least 10 cues.
I watched some of the last movement. There is a section where he stops conducting for a bit. My conducting teacher always stressed "first do no harm". These are professional orchestral musicians. Most have likely performed this piece dozens of times. They will play fine once you start them. They know how to be an ensemble. So why wave your arms if they are playing it the way you want? Muti then starts conducting cues and downbeats, then returns to full conducting when the piece gets busier with greater subdivisions.
That escalated quickly
Posted on 5/25/21 at 10:25 am to theantiquetiger
I never thought Mark Metcalf would equal the role of Neidermayer, but he did with the Maestro.
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