# Musicians, please tell me what conductors actually do. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211 "2005-10-14T13:01:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/1 "2005-10-14T13:01:49Z")
As someone who has never learned an instrument but appreciates music a lot, I’ve always wondered what the point of these guys are. I mean, I know they stand up there and wave their arms around and look dramatic, and I know sometimes they point at a specific section, who presumably does something special, but I honestly don’t know what. Also, if anyone wishes to share experiences of good/bad conductors, I’d appreciate that, too. It would help me understand better. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/2 "2005-10-14T13:11:36Z")
The orchestra is all the parts of a car. The conductor is the driver. He sets the tempo and decides when to start. He gives cues to individual musicians because they may have been sitting there counting rests for the last 127 measures and he wants to make sure they play their bit. If a particular group is too loud, soft, fast, slow, or any of a dozen other things he can indicate by hand gestures, he does that. And, except for soloists, he gets all the credit. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/3 "2005-10-14T13:12:48Z")
Well, I was only in high school band, but from my experience there: 1.) The conductor isn’t just a guy who waves a baton around. He’s essentially the “Coach” of the team that is the band, and he critiques and directs each element and performer, advising them on what they’ree doing, working individually if necessary with each. He’s the director of the “film” that is the performance, adjusting the tempo and the relative sound of the performance. Listen to different conductors leasding the same orchestra through the same piece of music (like Karl Bohm and Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonik doing Beethoven’s Symphonies) and you’ll hear the differences. 2.) The conductor Keeps Time. Although our Band Director would sometime walk away from the podium to hear our performance from different places in the hall, and we’d go on playing as if he was still there, you could tell the difference. The cohesiveness was gone, and it was traceable to the lack of that human metronome. But if you tried to replace him with a metronome, it wouldn’t be the same – pieces not only change tempo, sometimes you don’t want them to be mechanically identical everywhere. 3.) The conductor can look at different performers and “tweak” them during a performance. If you’ve worked together for a while you can tell from gestures and expressions what he wants – it’s not just “louder” or “quieter”. 4.) No mechanical device can make jokes without saying a word. ---
**Author:** ![John\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@John\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_F)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/4 "2005-10-14T13:14:02Z")
They direct the “delivery” of the music. Like this; What did _ **you** _ have for breakfast Anaamika? What did you hav]e for breakfast Anaamika? What did you have for breakfast Anaamika? What did you have for breakfast Anaamika? ---
**Author:** ![John\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/43a26b/32.png) [@John\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_F)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/5 "2005-10-14T13:20:55Z")
Arghhhhh! I was nowhere near done with that post. What did you hav]e for breakfast Anaamika? _ **What** _ did _you_ have for breakfast Anaamika? What did you\* haaaaaaaaaaaaave\* for \*breakfaaaaaaaaaaaaast \*Anaamika? [/QUOTE] The conductor is drawing out sections, punching others up, smoothing some down, and telling some to let it rip. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/6 "2005-10-14T13:24:28Z")
One would think that they could work stuff like this out when they practiced. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/7 "2005-10-14T13:24:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Well, I was only in high school band, but from my experience there: > 1.) The conductor isn’t just a guy who waves a baton around. He’s essentially the “Coach” of the team that is the band, and he critiques and directs each element and performer, advising them on what they’ree doing, working individually if necessary with each. He’s the director of the “film” that is the performance, adjusting the tempo and the relative sound of the performance. Listen to different conductors leasding the same orchestra through the same piece of music (like Karl Bohm and Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonik doing Beethoven’s Symphonies) and you’ll hear the differences. > > 2.) The conductor Keeps Time. Although our Band Director would sometime walk away from the podium to hear our performance from different places in the hall, and we’d go on playing as if he was still there, you could tell the difference. The cohesiveness was gone, and it was traceable to the lack of that human metronome. But if you tried to replace him with a metronome, it wouldn’t be the same – pieces not only change tempo, sometimes you don’t want them to be mechanically identical everywhere. > > 3.) The conductor can look at different performers and “tweak” them during a performance. If you’ve worked together for a while you can tell from gestures and expressions what he wants – it’s not just “louder” or “quieter”. > 4.) No mechanical device can make jokes without saying a word. I couldn’t have described it better myself. I used to play cello in HS orchestra and that was exactly what our teacher/conductor did. She was great at it too. With just a gesture and a look, you could instantly tell what she wanted from you. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/8 "2005-10-14T13:26:23Z")
They’re kinda like deejays, but not. An orchestra would be able to get by without one, more or less, but they might start falling apart towards the end, especially with long compositions or large orchestras. And they also wouldn’t sound very good. It’s not very easy getting 200 people with 20 different instruments to synchronise. Watching the guy next to them won’t work. Better to get everyone to watch the guy with the stick up front. The conductor also has to guide the orchestra through things like changes in dynamics or tempo. These sorts of things aren’t easy for orchestras to just work out by themselves. Having a director makes for a cleaner transition. I believe Soviet orchestras got rid of conductors, but they had problems with transitions. Basically, conductors are there to keep everything fine-tuned; you could even say the orchestra is the conductor’s instrument, cheesy as that sounds. They do have a purpose, honest. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/9 "2005-10-14T13:26:46Z")
While, in theory, once you have rehearsed and the conductor has made all his specific choices, everything you need to play a piece is written in the individual parts of the score or annotated in pencil, it is very difficult for a large group of people to keep time together. Most people don’t have a very accurate innate sense of time, so it helps you just choose one person’s sense of time to follow. In smaller ensembles, it’s often one of the players (the concert master or the first violinist, if there’s only one), but in larger ensembles it helps to have the guy standing up in front to keep time. Also, there are often large stretches of resting (not playing) for many of the parts, and it’s easy for those players to lose count. The conductor cues their entrances. There’s a lot going on in a large orchestral performance. Even if you have everything written down on the page, it helps to get reminders, as has been noted above of crescendos/decrescendos (changes in volume), changes in speed or time. Furthermore, there are often spots that require a fermata (hold) of indefinite length and restart. All these things are cued by the conductor. But primarily, the job of the conductor (during a performance) is to keep time and cue entrances. I’ve seen some conductors who get so dramatic and flourishy, I wonder how the players are following time cues. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/10 "2005-10-14T13:27:48Z")
Wow, 7 replies while I was banging away at mine =O ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/11 "2005-10-14T13:34:12Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > One would think that they could work stuff like this out when they practiced. The conductor is the one who can hear what the orchestra sounds like as a whole that very second. Each individual can really only hear their section, and maybe the section(s) beside them. Because of this, they will base how loud or fast they should be on who they hear around them, and if that is too fast or slow compared to all the other sections… Concerts unfold second by second, and someone is needed to help steer the performance and keep it smooth and on track. That is what the conductor does. Practice helps, but in the end they need cues as they go along to keep them focused and working as a whole. ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/12 "2005-10-14T15:20:28Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > One would think that they could work stuff like this out when they practiced. Just about as easily as 80 people could make a quality film without a director. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/13 "2005-10-14T15:23:03Z")
> [@csharpmajor](#): > > Wow, 7 replies while I was banging away at mine =O What you do while you’re not posting is your own business. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/14 "2005-10-14T15:29:59Z")
They allow for the flow of electricity. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/15 "2005-10-14T15:31:24Z")
They do nothing, the worthless wankers! 😃 Serious answer: they help regulate the tempo, volume, expression, and cue the entries and exits. Basically, they keep everything in sync. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/16 "2005-10-14T15:34:02Z")
> [@John F](#): > > What did you hav]e for breakfast Anaamika? > > _ **What** _ did _you_ have for breakfast Anaamika? > > What did you\* haaaaaaaaaaaaave\* for \*breakfaaaaaaaaaaaaast \*Anaamika? well, I don’t know about **Anaamika,** but I think **JohnF** had a little too much coffee… ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/17 "2005-10-14T15:36:54Z")
They’re especially valuable in an opera or musical when they have to coordinate what’s happening on stage with what’s happening in the pit. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/18 "2005-10-14T15:48:10Z")
I am reminded of the (probably apocryphal) story of the First Chair violinist who kept getting out of synch with his section (and the rest of the orchestra). During a break, he turned around and apologized to his section: “Sorry, gentlemen. I was watching the conductor. Won’t happen again.” ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/19 "2005-10-14T15:49:12Z")
Mrs. Cheesesteak is a stage manager on Broadway, and always comments about the different conductors for the orchestra. One is forceful and crisp, another is soft and flowing, and the orchestra changes its tempo and mood with the conductor. Sometimes that’s good, sometimes bad. Apparently, you play exactly how the conductor is directing you to play, not how it was practiced, or how YOU think it should be played. Playing sharp when the conductor is indicating soft is a sure way to get your ass handed to you after the show. On Broadway, much more than in a concert setting, the conductor also is the key person to make sure the music matches the action on the stage. If something goes awry, or an actor takes a few extra seconds to do a move or say a line, the conductor has to slow or speed his orchestra, or include a vamp (correct word for this?) to get the timing back. The lead conductor has also called the Mrs. out on a particular curtain drop she calls that he thought needed to hit a specific moment of the score. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2005, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211/20 "2005-10-14T15:53:18Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > well, I don’t know about **Anaamika,** but I think **JohnF** had a little too much coffee… Poured over Chocolate Sugar-Frosted Bombs. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-please-tell-me-what-conductors-actually-do/326211.md?page=2)