Conducting

Merlin

Merlin

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Remember the community band I had to practically fight my way into?

I conducted the second half of the rehearsal last night.

The conductor broke his wrist this week. Assistant conductor wasn't available, so one of the many HS teacher in the band took the first half of rehearsal. He wanted to play for the second half, and no one else was interested in waving the stick, so I did.

Got a nice round of applause at the end of it, which kind of took me by surprise, since I'm fairly direct when it comes to musical matters.

I had fun, and sweated a lot.
 
Merlin said:
Got a nice round of applause at the end of it, which kind of took me by surprise, since I'm fairly direct when it comes to musical matters.
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I usually favour a honest opinion over a diplomatic one. Shows that we're treated as adults, professionals in a way, and not as holiday cruise ship patrons.
 
tictactux said:
I usually favour a honest opinion over a diplomatic one. Shows that we're treated as adults, professionals in a way, and not as holiday cruise ship patrons.
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The thing that kind of took me by surprise at the time was the way the entire band seemed to be hanging on my every word.
 
Merlin said:
The thing that kind of took me by surprise at the time was the way the entire band seemed to be hanging on my every word.
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You sure it wasn't just your open fly?

Maybe that's because you're good with your instrument, with the baton, and with words. Some people can convey a message better than others.
 
I prefer copper.

Sorry. That's a conductor.

One of the challenges I had when I conducted is that during performances, I really wanted to toss something at the people that weren't watching me. I did successfully fight that urge, but it was a challenge.
 
pete said:
I prefer copper.

Sorry. That's a conductor.

One of the challenges I had when I conducted is that during performances, I really wanted to toss something at the people that weren't watching me. I did successfully fight that urge, but it was a challenge.
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I applaud your self-control, Pete. It is indeed a chronic problem in community bands, particularly those with a high concentration of "hobbyists" like me. I play in a couple of bands and the director whom I regard as the most skilled at dealing with amateur musicians makes a habit in his rehearsals of doing lots of unexpected tempo changes, fermatas of wildly varying duration, etc.--you get the picture. He tells us that he really doesn't know what he might decide to do at a performance, so we had better be prepared to watch. After a few repetitions of the embarrassment of playing unintended solos and otherwise botched-up passages in rehearsal, attention tends to improve. Far from perfection, of course, but better.

I have huge respect and gratitude for my directors---I know they certainly aren't doing it for the big bucks!

Ruth
 
Define "looking at you". I use peripherals when I'm sitting up front and usually have no problem looking at the directors without looking up. I know a lot of other players that do this. I look up at him for fermatas and caesura's and what not, but I never really "look" at him/her. I glance every few bars but that's about it. I keep my stand all the way down as habit from big band with stage fronts, and that seems to irritate directors with how tall I am because I'm looking down into the music when I play. I rarely play music to the point of semi memorization where I can look at a director quite often during a passage.
The way I see it is the percussion and tubas/double basses really dictate what tempos are going on, and if I am in time with what the bass lines are doing, then there isn't a thing the director can do about it. I know this sounds awful, but it holds truth. I've never been asked by a director to look more, so whether the occassional glances are enough to keep them satisfied, or they understand that I'm looking at them with my eyes instead of moving my head, it gets the job done.
 
A community band conductor who changes tempo on a whim when there is no indication of it in the score is asking for a train wreck. One who does it inconsistently is asking for that train wreck in concert.
 
Al Stevens said:
A community band conductor who changes tempo on a whim when there is no indication of it in the score is asking for a train wreck. One who does it inconsistently is asking for that train wreck in concert.
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We had a guest conductor for the James Bond theme where I was featured on guitar. During rehersals, it just wasn't working because it was too slow tempo. The "dada da da dahh da da da" guitar riff sounded like it was being played under water at that tempo. Honestly, I had trouble playing it that slow. When we tried it up tempo (after much debate), it sounded great. I got lots of compliments from the band that night. Okay, we agreed, that was the way it was going to be played at the show. NOT!!! He started the piece even slower than before. I kept thinking he's going speed this thing up before my part came in. It was to build up to the right tempo before my time to play. Didn't happen that way and it sucked. Worse, there's a recording of it to remind me always of how much it sucked.

Because I like the guy who was the guest director, I took the heat for the bad play. But, it still gets under my skin when I think about it. We later played the same piece with me playing the same part on the tenor sax with our full time director. Never did we have a bad performance in that setting. Go figure.
 
Al Stevens said:
A community band conductor who changes tempo on a whim when there is no indication of it in the score is asking for a train wreck. One who does it inconsistently is asking for that train wreck in concert.
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With all due respect, Al, it hasn't in fact worked out that way at all. Au contraire, the band is very attentive, particularly at transitions, and we haven't train wrecked in years.
 
Al Stevens said:
A community band conductor who changes tempo on a whim when there is no indication of it in the score is asking for a train wreck. One who does it inconsistently is asking for that train wreck in concert.
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Hmm...I look at the conductor just as I look in the rearview mirror when driving. Not constantly but I usually detect things happening. That includes tempo changes and all that. It's about playing as an ensemble, not simply playing off the sheets.
 
AltoRuth said:
With all due respect, Al, it hasn't in fact worked out that way at all. Au contraire, the band is very attentive, particularly at transitions, and we haven't train wrecked in years.
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Probably reflects differences in average skill levels among bands. Our conductor laments that he actually has to keep time with the baton. He says he'd much prefer to be able to shape the sound and let the tempos take care of themselves.

(Au contraire? Tish! You're speaking French!)
 
Al Stevens said:
Probably reflects differences in average skill levels among bands. Our conductor laments that he actually has to keep time with the baton. He says he'd much prefer to be able to shape the sound and let the tempos take care of themselves.

(Au contraire? Tish! You're speaking French!)
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Writing, perhaps; speaking, not on your life. I'd be loathe to embarrass myself in that way. I have enough diffiiculty as it is pronouncing "Viognier", Mourvedre, et al which I have to do regularly at the winery (from where I am typing this---it's a nasty, rainy day and apparently very few are interested in tasting today).

Apologies for the hijack!

As to the topic, I didn't mean to imply that my director's choices were whimsical or without reference to the score. Rather he will vary the degree of rit and accel, the length of the fermata, the amount of time taken at a "railroad track" before resuming play, etc., the result of which is that our band is pretty attuned to him. We also do a couple of things each year where we have to keep playing while some action or another is unfolding (e.g. a children's parade, or some such thing) and he gives us a cut off when it's time to call a halt.

As to what "looking at" or "watching" means, I like the analogy to the rear view mirror. I always have the baton or hand in my peripheral vision and also am very aware of when it becomes important to watch more carefully.

Ooop! Got to go---custom!
 
Before anyone gets too big a head from spending time on the podium. I would remind respectfully remind everyone of the difference between a "bull" and an "orchestra".

In one of my younger band's rehearsals the students began to complain about the pieces I put on the board to play that day. They wanted of course to play the "fun" songs they already knew instead of the challenging pieces they needed to work on. In fun, I stopped the discussion cold by announcing in a loud voice, "This band is not a democracy, it's a dictatorship"! To which a small voice at the back of the room said, "And you must be the Dick".

Needless to say it was too clever and funny to get mad at the kid, and from that day on, whenever I found myself getting too overbearing in front of the class, I backed off reminding myself not to be the "Dick".

John
 
AltoRuth said:
I applaud your self-control, Pete. It is indeed a chronic problem in community bands, particularly those with a high concentration of "hobbyists" like me. I play in a couple of bands and the director whom I regard as the most skilled at dealing with amateur musicians makes a habit in his rehearsals of doing lots of unexpected tempo changes, fermatas of wildly varying duration, etc.--you get the picture. He tells us that he really doesn't know what he might decide to do at a performance, so we had better be prepared to watch. After a few repetitions of the embarrassment of playing unintended solos and otherwise botched-up passages in rehearsal, attention tends to improve. Far from perfection, of course, but better.

I have huge respect and gratitude for my directors---I know they certainly aren't doing it for the big bucks!

Ruth
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I remember distinctly one performance -- a piece my little group played during the offering (I worked at a church) -- and the bass player took off at about twice normal speed. And looked ONLY at his hands. I've blocked the rest of the experience out of my memory.

(This was also the group where an accordion player asked to join. While I did say that I'd give it a shot, I was somewhat relieved when he found he had other obligations and couldn't attend the rehearsals. Particularly because I haven't a clue how to arrange music for an accordion.)

A lot of conducting is based on the group that you are the conductor for, in my opinion. My job generally felt like I was the orchestra wrangler. In the groups I conducted, I essentially just had the drummer -- my ex-wife -- just lay down a steady beat and I waved my hands in time to that. Occasionally I'd give a cue. And manage to stop waving my hands at about the same time everyone stopped playing. Usually.

You think I'm kidding. I'm not.
 
jbtsax said:
...whenever I found myself getting too overbearing in front of the class, I backed off reminding myself not to be the "Dick".

John
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"Every Tom, Dick and Harry's Named John"

(old tune)
 
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