Another Conductor

Another week, another conductor.  By the time I leave here I will have played under many batons of different fashions.  This week's is a flipped collar, with a bit of chest and a silver pendant choker.  His tight black pants accompany any shirt, appropriate for rehearsal and performance alike.  He wears his clothing with designer glasses, incredible energy, and a Swedish accent.

Every conductor brings a new way of working, a new set of criteria, or lack thereof.  They each have  strengths and weaknesses.  It's valuable to simply be able to experience these different ways of rehearsing and performing.  We are tacitly exposed to their philosophy of music, we take in the experiences that they have had through the way that they treat us, we learn something about the courage and humanity that is involved in leading a group of people for one week.  Some try to control every little detail.  Some let us out early.  Some are more trusting than others.  Some talk a lot.  Some have us play things repeatedly without explanation.  Some change the way they work throughout the week and others make the same comments from the first day to the dress rehearsal.

We have many masters and are privy to the ways that their leadership effects their following.  The way they address us, the content of what they say, the way that they move, their expectations–all of this and much more will effect the way that we perform, how much they can do with us, what limitations they impose on the music they are trying to make.  It must be an incredible art to perfect, and extremely rare to find a great conductor.  Many of them, like we in our everyday life, have things which get in the way of their pure intentions.  And they, like us, are working with those things to the best of their ability and awareness.

So while we must submit ourselves to them, I think we are privileged to witness the variety of ways that people undergo the vulnerable act of conducting.  Hopefully I'll take something from the experience when I work with students, ensembles, and myself in the future.