# Are Conductors of any use on stage? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567 "2019-06-15T16:28:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/21 "2019-06-16T13:32:28Z")
The conductor is also a musician, and the instrument they play is the entire orchestra. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/22 "2019-06-17T04:24:56Z")
Leonard Bernstein asks these questions and gives his answers in a 1955 Omnibus program. [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dn3at](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dn3at) ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/23 "2019-06-17T04:29:06Z")
A websearch on “orchestras without conductors” turns up a wealth of articles on these questions. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2019, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/24 "2019-06-17T05:25:03Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > Leonard Bernstein asks these questions and gives his answers in a 1955 Omnibus program. [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dn3at](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1dn3at) Thanks for posting this – fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/25 "2019-06-18T06:24:13Z")
I just found this earlier thread, with links to even earlier threads. [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=858960](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=858960) ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/26 "2019-06-18T08:19:26Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > …A little appreciated problem is the speed of sound. A professional level orchestra plays to compensate for the delay introduced by the distance from the back row to the conductor. For a small ensemble this isn’t an issue, but the human ear becomes sensitive to delays over about 10ms. (The Hass effect.) That is a distance of roughly 10 feet. You will find that the back row (wood winds, winds) deliberately play very slightly ahead of the conductor in order to compensate. They play in order to make the sound in the audience cohere, not the sound that they hear cohere (in which case they would be already behind the strings, and doubly behind as heard by the audience… This is absolutely fascinating. I trained as a physicist, but I’d never considered this effect. Thanks for posting. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/27 "2019-06-18T14:54:40Z")
I’ve played in a few instances with a guest conductor. Even though the band had rehearsed the music beforehand and knew it, and it was simple music, and the guest conductor was just as good/professional as our regular conductor… it still was hard to follow them. The whole band had issues, not just me (in none of the instances were we professional musicians). A conductor is pretty crucial to the whole operation. They’re an important part of the band and they do in fact lead the band to where they want it to go. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/28 "2019-06-18T15:23:13Z")
Keith Lockhart has been the conductor of the Boston Pops for 24 years. He and his staff would be very involved in planning the performances for the entire season. Keith is the face of the orchestra and does a lot of promotional work. Conducting a live performance is just one part of his job. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/29 "2019-06-18T16:19:40Z")
Re: acoustics, aside from the delay, it can just be hard to hear all of what’s going on. Especially when you have the piccolos shrieking in your left ear. There’s a heavy visual component to playing together, as most pieces aren’t just set steadily to a metronome for their entirety. At small size you can see everyone. At large, you cannot. Hence the conductor. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2019, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567/30 "2019-07-03T01:55:18Z")
Quick bump: Last weekend I saw a musical at a summer stock theater. There was no orchestra pit; the six-piece orchestra was backstage. A monitor hanging on the back wall of the audience let the 10 or so dancers see the musical director/ conductor so they could all stay in step with each other. And that’s to say nothing of the constant tweaking and directing an orchestra does during a performance [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-conductors-of-any-use-on-stage/835567.md?page=1)