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Wallaceburg Arts: The role of the conductor

A conductor does much more than wave a baton at a group of musicians

My goals this week are to both educate and (hopefully) vindicate.

I’ve heard it said that a music conductor is “the last bastion of true dictatorship.”

Wallaceburg Arts: The role of the conductor Back to video

I’ve had music students who have gone on to study at the university level who have told me horror stories of fellow students being chewed apart by music professors in the presence of everyone else.

The orchestral world has had many prominent conductors who are renowned for their fiery tempers, intensity, perfectionism and attention to detail.

The great Arturo Toscanini had been known to fire musicians on the spot in a rehearsal, and Leonard Bernstein is another renowned “difficult” conductor to work under.

To a large extent, I understand their expectations should be of the highest level as every musician in a world-class orchestra has undergone intense vetting via interviews and auditions, competing with the finest musicians from around the world for their position.

On the other hand, I lead a collection of amateur, volunteer musicians and I never choose to belittle them.

So “what do conductors want”?

Being a conductor myself, albeit not a very skilled one, I have some insight as to what a conductor’s roles and expectations entail.

In Europe, the main conductor of an orchestra is oft referred to as the “chief conductor” while, in North America, the position is more commonly referred to as the “principal conductor.”

The principal conductor is “the primary artistic leader and musical director of an orchestra or........

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