“But what do they actually DO?”
It’s a question I’ve been asked dozens of times, and no, not about viola players.
Conductors. So what do they actually do?
I was reminded of the question last week with the death of Bob Hawke, and the story of how he conducted the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs in Handel’s Messiah. How could a man who had spent his life as a lawyer and politician stand up and conduct music? Well, perhaps being a good leader (and I think that we can safely agree without any bias that Bob was) and being a good conductor require very similar skill sets.
There is an almost mythical belief that you can tell how good a conductor will be by how they walk through the orchestra. It has nothing to do with clothes, although it does help to make sure your fly is done up. It doesn’t really have anything to do with stature, but it does have to do with intent. An inner focus that cannot be faked. And then if the conductor comes onto the podium and talks too much, you know that it is going to be a long rehearsal. One of the best rehearsals I ever had was with a Russian conductor who didn’t said a word with his mouth but wrote a novel with his baton.
But I was shown most clearly what a conductor actually does do, by a conductor who chose to not do.
Simon Rattle was conducting a youth orchestra I played in as a teenager, and we were playing a very complex piece by Debussy: Jeux.
The orchestra rehearsed and rehearsed the piece over two weeks, then Rattle did a shocking and provocative thing.
“You are going to play through Jeux without me.”
Now bear in mind that this is an extremely complex piece with many changes of mood, speed, and beats in each bar. It was the equivalent to letting a party of children into a fairground and telling them to run the rides themselves. We needed supervision.
Or did we?
Off we went, our ears and eyes locked onto the parts of other instruments which helped our own. And, despite a little stumble in the middle, we made it to the end.
But perhaps “made it” is the crucial phrase. Sure, we played together, but the spirit of the music that Rattle had goaded and caressed from us before was just not there. We were hanging on without his guiding light. And in that moment of him not conducting, I began to understand what he was actually doing when he was conducting.
A good conductor is a philosopher, dancer, actor, diplomat, dictator, teacher, priest, poet, director, architect and musician. And they need to have a pretty good view from the back. So Bob Hawke conducting? Oh yes. Perhaps just not Mahler.
Which Prime Minister would you like to see conduct?
Ed Ayres presents Weekend Breakfast on ABC Classic (Saturday and Sunday 6am – 9am). He also presents The Art Show on RN (Wednesday 10am).