# The Science of Conducting



## brianwalker (Dec 9, 2011)

http://www.economist.com/node/21562182

DO ORCHESTRAL conductors do anything useful? Alessandro D'Ausilio of the Italian Institute of Technology, in Genoa, and his colleagues tried to answer that eternal question in a study published in the Public Library of Science.

Determining a conductor's influence is tricky. Does a "good" conductor wangle bravura performances from his players, or simply preside over a self-organising virtuoso ensemble? To find out, Dr D'Ausilio watched two (anonymous) conductors leading five excerpts from Mozart's symphony number 40 played by eight violinists from the Città di Ferrara orchestra.

Each violinist had an infra-red reflector attached to the tip of his bow, and the conductors had them attached to their batons. Dr D'Ausilio and his team were thus able to follow the movements of both bows and batons by bathing their little orchestra in infra-red light, which their cameras could see, but human beings cannot. They then used the movements of the reflectors to analyse who was affecting whom.

Thank you, science! Now we know that conductors aren't completely superfluous. 

From the comments: Conductors' influence during a performance is minimal. It's during rehearsals that a great conductor fashions a great performance.

I guess Knappertsbusch "added no value" in his conducting then, since he never rehearsed.


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## Mephistopheles (Sep 3, 2012)

Well, we still don't know anything because a sample of 2 is pitiful!


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

Not as pitiful as presuming that the sum of a conductor's entire influence is contained in his baton-tip.


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## Arsakes (Feb 20, 2012)

Not again .. "The robots conduct better" nonsense.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

I'm convinced that these experiments are taken out of context and interpreted a little too freely by the journalist. It's unlikely to be the case that those actually conducting the experiments (no pun intended) considered the movement of the batons to be the only factor in a conductors worth. Using a baton (and how one uses it) is only one tool of communication between a conductor and an orchestra. The signals mean different things for different conductors. A conductor is justa manager and how he manages the orchestra is the same as how anyone might influence the success or efficiency of a business. Different managing styles, obviously, are used to obtain the desired results. 

Where this experiment might be useful (from the PoV of the science behind it) is examining how effective using a baton is as a means of communication. Communication and the transfer of information through various means is of scientific interest, but also of interest to how conductors of the future might consider the effectiveness of the baton. Boulez, among others, doesn't use baton at all. Other conductors I have seen use a mixture of hand gestures and the traditional baton. Rehearsal removes the reliance on the baton, but live feedback is still important as a safety net. I don't understand how anyone can conduct without any rehearsal. After all, what the specific conductor might mean is then just an informed guess, which is a compromise on communication between the manager and people he is meant to be managing. This relies too much on luck, IMO.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

When I watch rehearsal footage of famous conductors, I'm always amazed at how much seemingly elementary work they do. You'd think they'd be fine-tuning orchestral balance and tempi, but no. They countlessly interrupt, correcting wrong dynamics, messed-up phrasing, miss-placed accents, bowing errors, etc. Technical stuff. And these are professional musicians!

I would think that the conductor's job is more like that of a theatre director: the live performance mirrors the work that's been done in rehearsals. The conductor can correct things here and there, but I think it's an overly romantic notion that he creates the performance in the moment.

Given that Mozart conducted his piano concerti from the piano, the orchestra accompanied him mostly unconducted (as Mozart was busy playing), but surely not unrehearsed.


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## Krisena (Jul 21, 2012)

Andreas said:


> When I watch rehearsal footage of famous conductors, I'm always amazed at how much seemingly elementary work they do. You'd think they'd be fine-tuning orchestral balance and tempi, but no. They countlessly interrupt, correcting wrong dynamics, messed-up phrasing, miss-placed accents, bowing errors, etc. Technical stuff. And these are professional musicians!


Do you know the unlimited amount of ways to play a phrase?


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## Moira (Apr 1, 2012)

Don't forget eye contact and other facial expressions as part of the conducting arsenal.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Actually, Knappertsbusch DID rejearse, but he just didn't like to , and would cut rehearsals short or cancel them whenever he could . He didn't have a very big repertoire, and was not the type to perform new,difficult music, which automatically requires a lot of reharsal time, and the orchestral works and operas he conducted were ones the musicians alreeady knew very well and had performed numerous times .
Conductors like Slatkin, Zinman, Rattle, Thomas, Eschenbach, Levine, and others, who regularly program difficult new or recent works HAVE to rehearse thoroughly .
The conductor has to have control over the whole enterprise. The individual musicians are concentratring on their injdividual parts, but the conductor has to have studied the full score to know everyone's part as a whole. 
It's a very,very tough job which requires a staggering amount of knowledge and technical skill, the ability to lead and deal with people , and so much more .


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## Vaneyes (May 11, 2010)

I'm most respectful and appreciative of conductors with wide repertoire, who make their primary living by guest conducting.

These "gunslingers" ride into town, charming and educating with one or two rehearsals. The results can often be staggering, turning a regional orchestra into a Tier Two. Alas, it's shortlived...until the MD returns.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Moira said:


> Don't forget eye contact and other facial expressions as part of the conducting arsenal.


Particularly if your name was Fritz Reiner.


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## drpraetorus (Aug 9, 2012)

It really is all in the rehearsal. By the time the concert is played, the conductor should have educated the group in how the music is to be played. In the concert it is more the face and eye contact that let the players know if they are playing as instructed.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

The role of the conductor in the actual concert is vastly underestimated. Go to a conducting masterclass and you will see how the movements of the conductor almsot magically influence the players. The phrasing, dynamics etc...

EDIT: 'In concert' as opposed to the role in rehearsal


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

emiellucifuge said:


> The role of the conductor in the actual concert is vastly underestimated. Go to a conducting masterclass and you will see how the movements of the conductor almsot magically influence the players. The phrasing, dynamics etc...


I think that Leonard Bernstein has recorded the best version of Beethovens 9th, and he did it without a score!
I notice differences between works when the conductor changes etc...
I remember around two years ago when i was in school blasting classical music from my phone at full vol on the corridors of the school, then one guy said " Its very hard to be the conductor because they have to draw the note to the air" And i was like " WHAT!??!?! If he would have to do that he would have to be an octopus" I explained that conductor keeps up the time etc...


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I highly respect the art (science) of conducting, and I can go on for a long time praising conductors. I put conducting on par with mastering any single instrument. Conductors master the whole orchestra, as in they understand how each instrument works, it's strengths and weaknesses, and knows how to coach everyone, even though they probably don't know how to play all the instruments proficiently. Furthermore, they become masters of knowing themselves, because if they want to improve an orchestra, they first need to know_ what_ they want the orchestra to sound like (they need an abstract ideal in their mind, unique to themselves and yet conscientious of what others treat as ideal). The personality of the conductor is probably the single most key factor in how well they will influence their orchestra. If they are passionate, charismatic and genuine enough, their passion will rub onto the players successfully. The "niceness" factor also is highly valued, and that the conductor doesn't stand too aloof and superior to the musicians.  I may also be a bit... biased for them... considering some drama is going on with me and a certain grad conductor at my school of music lol.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Huilunsoittaja said:


> I highly respect the art (science) of conducting, and I can go on for a long time praising conductors. I put conducting on par with mastering any single instrument. Conductors master the whole orchestra, as in they understand how each instrument works, it's strengths and weaknesses, and knows how to coach everyone, even though they probably don't know how to play all the instruments proficiently. Furthermore, they become masters of knowing themselves, because if they want to improve an orchestra, they first need to know_ what_ they want the orchestra to sound like (they need an abstract ideal in their mind, unique to themselves and yet conscientious of what others treat as ideal). The personality of the conductor is probably the single most key factor in how well they will influence their orchestra. If they are passionate, charismatic and genuine enough, their passion will rub onto the players successfully. The "niceness" factor also is highly valued, and that the conductor doesn't stand too aloof and superior to the musicians.  I may also be a bit... biased for them... considering some drama is going on with me and a certain grad conductor at my school of music lol.


The "niceness" factor did not feature in many of the greatest conductors running of their orchestras. A bit less "niceness" and we might get better results in life generally.


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## graaf (Dec 12, 2009)

The people that made this research most probably knew all the shortcomings of it, and are aware of most of the remarks expressed here. I suppose they offered this research "as is", so we should have our "buyer beware" guard on, too. After all, whoever clicked on the link for the article, could see the last sentence of it:


> The findings are in harmony with what conductors knew all along: that baton-toting despots, like the late Herbert von Karajan, do add value-but only if they rein in the uppity musicians in front of them.


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## RRod (Sep 17, 2012)

I've heard enough recordings to know that a conductor can certainly ruin a piece!! I would hope that they can at least skew a little bit in the other direction as well.


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

From videos I've seen of Karajan rehearsing, he doesn't strike me as a "despot" in the least bit.
He always seems calm,relaxed and never loses his cool with the musicians . With players of the caliber of the Berlin Philharmonic , you don't need to be a despot . They eat right out of your hand .
In one video, Karajan was telling funny stories about his experiences to the musicians . In his autobiography, the legendary flutist James Galway, who spent several years as principla flute under Karajan in the B.P.O. in the 1970s, he said that Karajan always treated you as a regular person , and was never the pretentious ,bossy type ,lording it over the musicians.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

superhorn said:


> From videos I've seen of Karajan rehearsing, he doesn't strike me as a "despot" in the least bit.
> He always seems calm,relaxed and never loses his cool with the musicians . With players of the caliber of the Berlin Philharmonic , you don't need to be a despot . They eat right out of your hand .
> In one video, Karajan was telling funny stories about his experiences to the musicians . In his autobiography, the legendary flutist James Galway, who spent several years as principla flute under Karajan in the B.P.O. in the 1970s, he said that Karajan always treated you as a regular person , and was never the pretentious ,bossy type ,lording it over the musicians.


I have the same impression. And that might also be why the BPO, after Furtwängler's death, chose Karajan instead of Celibidache as their principal conductor.


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