I've never thought much about my general view of conductors, so your perspectives got me thinking. Thanks for the nudge. I've never played in a professional orchestra, but I've been on the board of several and sung in their choruses for 50+ years. My initial reaction is to divide the music directors into three roughly equal groups from a musical perspective: absolutely excellent, pluses and minuses, and grossly overrated misfits. Unfortunately, as people, some of the great musicians were jerks, and many were sexist in sick ways. But better than most politicians and billionaires, for sure. And like you, I'm finding my personal involvement is shifting to small groups. Long live early music consorts, and maybe I'll even get back to playing upright bass in a folk group. In any event, music is my favorite anchor in today's stormy world. Keep your unique thoughts coming!
Thank you, Jeff, for your comment which in turn makes me remember some more conductor-centric musings:
When I was working on my teaching certificate at UWM, I was required (much against my will), to take "conducting 101 and 102." I passionately disliked those classes because at the time I possessed the same (no doubt irrational but heartfelt) aesthetic stance expressed in my latest piece.
The notion of one person standing in front of a group and with physical gestures and a stick, forcing them into a rhythmic structure is for me unpalatable. It is not surprising that I'm a big fan of "conductor-less" orchestras. My favourite Beethoven symphony cycle is this:
To my eye and ear, the violinist here is not "conducting. He is certainly "leading" in a wonderfully collaborative way. To be "led" by a musician with a violin bow being used as intended is a pleasure. So much more pleasant than a stick. How uncouth.
Also unsurprisingly, this semi-anarchistic perspective made me a miserable conducting student. I found myself so out of sorts on the podium that my latent "essential tremor" kicked in with a vengeance and I couldn't hold the baton with a steady, much less wise, hand. For the final exam, I found it essential to pop an inderal. That did the trick. I passed the conducting final and squeaked through the class. Not with flying colours, but that C+ got into my hand the requisite piece of paper that ultimately got me a 30 year long public school teaching job in a wonderful school district. Medicine saved me from a life of poverty. (Not a bad thing.) For better or worse, the students I worked with during my tenure owe their acquaintance with me to a beta-blocker.
Fortunately, I needed to do little conducting in that job. When I did conduct, it was in the no-nonsense style of that 18th Century musical hero, Jean-Baptiste Lully. (Although I did try to avoid hitting my foot like he did. Baroque performance -practice should only be taken so far!)
In general, I thought it much more constructive to help those young scholars learn to listen to each other.
That conducting professor is long retired but still ,I believe, lives in Milwaukee, I hope she doesn't read this. She might try to revoke my passing grade!
I can’t wait to hear more!
I can’t wait to hear more too. Like Nicolas Slonimsky describes in Chapter 23 of his book, I may well be entering “the age of absurdity.”
I've never thought much about my general view of conductors, so your perspectives got me thinking. Thanks for the nudge. I've never played in a professional orchestra, but I've been on the board of several and sung in their choruses for 50+ years. My initial reaction is to divide the music directors into three roughly equal groups from a musical perspective: absolutely excellent, pluses and minuses, and grossly overrated misfits. Unfortunately, as people, some of the great musicians were jerks, and many were sexist in sick ways. But better than most politicians and billionaires, for sure. And like you, I'm finding my personal involvement is shifting to small groups. Long live early music consorts, and maybe I'll even get back to playing upright bass in a folk group. In any event, music is my favorite anchor in today's stormy world. Keep your unique thoughts coming!
Thank you, Jeff, for your comment which in turn makes me remember some more conductor-centric musings:
When I was working on my teaching certificate at UWM, I was required (much against my will), to take "conducting 101 and 102." I passionately disliked those classes because at the time I possessed the same (no doubt irrational but heartfelt) aesthetic stance expressed in my latest piece.
The notion of one person standing in front of a group and with physical gestures and a stick, forcing them into a rhythmic structure is for me unpalatable. It is not surprising that I'm a big fan of "conductor-less" orchestras. My favourite Beethoven symphony cycle is this:
:https://youtu.be/PCCGlWGhdqw?si=dRMXx9kCH1CjNxSZ
All hail those stout and sensible Norwegians!
To my eye and ear, the violinist here is not "conducting. He is certainly "leading" in a wonderfully collaborative way. To be "led" by a musician with a violin bow being used as intended is a pleasure. So much more pleasant than a stick. How uncouth.
Also unsurprisingly, this semi-anarchistic perspective made me a miserable conducting student. I found myself so out of sorts on the podium that my latent "essential tremor" kicked in with a vengeance and I couldn't hold the baton with a steady, much less wise, hand. For the final exam, I found it essential to pop an inderal. That did the trick. I passed the conducting final and squeaked through the class. Not with flying colours, but that C+ got into my hand the requisite piece of paper that ultimately got me a 30 year long public school teaching job in a wonderful school district. Medicine saved me from a life of poverty. (Not a bad thing.) For better or worse, the students I worked with during my tenure owe their acquaintance with me to a beta-blocker.
Fortunately, I needed to do little conducting in that job. When I did conduct, it was in the no-nonsense style of that 18th Century musical hero, Jean-Baptiste Lully. (Although I did try to avoid hitting my foot like he did. Baroque performance -practice should only be taken so far!)
In general, I thought it much more constructive to help those young scholars learn to listen to each other.
That conducting professor is long retired but still ,I believe, lives in Milwaukee, I hope she doesn't read this. She might try to revoke my passing grade!
When is your first concert? Is it in Milwaukee?
When and where is the concert? I have no idea. Details are not my strong suit. It’s something I’ll look into and report back. Stay tuned!
I think we’re all at that stage.