I was at a Bach concert and the orchestra and the singers did not look at the conductor once, but that dude was going crazy with his hands. Not sure why he was there but I guess he must have been important.
Think about it this way. Contractors are like supervisors if everyone in the team does as they supposed to then they are not needed but some people just can't be left to their own devices
I think when it comes to music, the performers have had plenty of hours spent together practicing the music to the point where they just feel it in themselves. And the conductor acts as a physical interpretor of the emotions of the music. When you play with a band and you're all locked in you become one in creating sound. The conductor just adds an expressive element for the audience . It does sound grandiose sure but during practice he keeps everyone in time or rhythm
A couple of brilliant points and one-liners here. The notion of the conductor as the storyteller is my main takeaway, and the punchline that ends the video is actually hilarious. No spoilers here - watch it till the end!
This was fascinating, thank you! So composers are leading the crowd and the band. A focal point for both. I've wondered this for years and now it's been put in an idiot-proof enough way for me to get lol.
It's because they know how to practice together. People who think it's impossible are the same tools who turn pages on sheet music that they KNOW from memory. It's somehow impressive to pretend like waving hand, sight reading some difficult music, is to Westerners more impressive than just knowing how to play something from memory. We are obsessed with abstractions and symbols.
No, it doesn't. It needs, if it deserves any attention at all, more of the serious, sober judgement that is being lost in today's unculture, especially on TH-cam. This is just typical cheap popular crap for total dumbing down and superficialisation.
More entertaining than I had expected but less informative than I had hoped! I would like to have known the names of all the conductors featured if only for curiosity. However thank you for your work and I hope you will continue making more videos.
The explanation still seems incomplete as it doesn't really cover why some pieces, like Mozart's piano concertos, are still successfully performed without a conductor these days, meanwhile most of other performances do use the conductor. OK, one could say later compositions (say, Rachmaninoff's concertos) are probably too complex and require too large orchestras to be played without a conductor, but why do we see this inconsistency around concertos by Mozart or Haydn or their predecessors?..
because classical era composers wrote their piano concertos solely for them to play in public concerts. Beethoven too, wrote his five piano concertos to display his virtuosity and if im correct, conducted the orchestra by himself
It's because it's an ideology to think it's "impossible" without a Conductor. It's pure nonsense. It's like those people who turn pages of pieces they KNOW how to play from memory. They want to Impress people by pretending like they're sight reading. And with the conductor, we pretend like we need a boss, in order to function. This is part of western ideology. We actually don't think we can function without having some dude telling us what is and wrong.
It would have been helpful to examine the strange phenomenon of conductors with bizarre baton technique, who just wave their baton about, or, worse, like Gergiev, who just wiggles his hands. Also, conductors love to "shape" the musical phrase physically, as if waving their hands somehow actually changes the sound. At such moments, they are giving music " a local habitation and a name," as Shakespeare said, but no amount of gesturing can actually change the sound emanating from the orchestra... unless they're conducting with a baton from Harry Potter's favorite wand shop.
It’s always confused me, these people practice for many months for a performance together.. along with their sheet music.. if that dude wasn’t standing there waving his hands, you’re telling me they’d just freeze and have no idea wtf to do??😂
@@Lemurian.Quartz The job of the conductor is to bring out the musical interpretation. Yeah sure musicians can just study the music sheet without the conductor but the conductor is the one that united everybody on the same page otherwise everybody is going to be doing their own stuff. They also keep the tempo and conductor also show where they want certain things to be at. Y’all get the point.
This documentary failed to show a clip of arguably the greatest conductor of The Twentieth Century: Sir Georg Solti. In the “Orchestra” series he goes into great detail of what his job is, why it is important, and his important role with the players. The Rock Music has got to go! Replace with Prokofiev “Romeo and Juliet.”
The conductor, as I understand it, also sets the tempo. I remember reading reviews of concerts where the conductor was said to have conducted the piece too slowly or vice versa, or there wasn't enough shading and so forth. Sometimes you would read , for example, that the brass overshadowed the strings. So the blame is put on the conductor and rightly so in many cases.
String player here. Down bow is when you pull the bow across the string in a motion that opens your elbow (moving your hand away from the instrument), up bow is the opposite, closing your elbow. What does it mean? Usually it’s just phrasing, ie “it’s easier to play this passage with this bowing”, but sometimes composers will specify bowings for effect. Hope this helps
I get it kinda, but for the most part no hah. If the maestro/conductor writes the music, sure. But i dont get whey they are on stage when most of, if not all the actual performers arent even looking at him. Its kinda like modern DJs. Yeah they made the songs, but there is little to no point of a person being on stage fiddling around with minor dials nobody knows what is being done while said song is being played.They can "tweak things" for sure live.But yeah. And i love EDM and classical music hah!
I'm sure if they were totally redundant and unnecessary for the music, they'd have diseappeared from the orchestras - all unused organs atrophy and disappear over time. But the thing is, I rarely see an orchestra player who actually pays attention to the conductor, seriously it looks like the guy is there shaking and obviously enjoying music and trying to enact the piece with his body language, it's just their purpose for being there is a mystery. It needs thorough explanation, this summary in the video doesn't explain much.
😂😂😂😂 all a conductor/composer is..... a little monkey waving a stick in the air, hoping to draw attention to itself to receive more treats! Like the saying goes you can send a baboon to the moon but training it to return is impossible!! Thats my take on what they are!😅
My brother was a conductor and if anyone thinks it's not necessary then you are completely wrong. Once he demonstrated his orchestra without him conducting and let me tell you, it was insane how terrible they were. However, all this was a lie, but please upvote this comment anyway, to help send my pet squirrel to college. I can't fathom telling his little heart that he can't continue his education. He's feeble and weak and just needs your support.
Once I’ve memorized my music I’m constantly looking up at my conductor. I’m using their body language AND what I’m hearing to balance myself. I can’t hear the woodwinds well enough to tell if I’m loud or not but the conductor can.
@@theemeraldminecart5280 that's nice to hear. I do have just one question for you...what if the conductor's gesture suddenly becomes different (for whatever reason)...would you still follow his lead or would you stick with what you have memorized?
@@kotse9129 yea they won't play the wrong note tho just they might go too fast or too slow or too loud, a conductor just guides them how to play not what to play.
I was at a Bach concert and the orchestra and the singers did not look at the conductor once, but that dude was going crazy with his hands. Not sure why he was there but I guess he must have been important.
Think about it this way. Contractors are like supervisors if everyone in the team does as they supposed to then they are not needed but some people just can't be left to their own devices
So just like real managers, they take the credit and act like their job is hard when not doing anything creative 😂
I think when it comes to music, the performers have had plenty of hours spent together practicing the music to the point where they just feel it in themselves. And the conductor acts as a physical interpretor of the emotions of the music. When you play with a band and you're all locked in you become one in creating sound. The conductor just adds an expressive element for the audience . It does sound grandiose sure but during practice he keeps everyone in time or rhythm
Loved that video. And your humour.
Honestly I wasn't expecting such a great video
Subscribed!
A couple of brilliant points and one-liners here. The notion of the conductor as the storyteller is my main takeaway, and the punchline that ends the video is actually hilarious. No spoilers here - watch it till the end!
This was fascinating, thank you! So composers are leading the crowd and the band. A focal point for both. I've wondered this for years and now it's been put in an idiot-proof enough way for me to get lol.
thanks for adding one female conductor( Lydia Tar) to this entertaining spoof🙂that's not at all a nightmare I had once the movie was announced
The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in New York is conductor-less and seems to do just fine, with the musicians themselves defining the score.
It's because they know how to practice together. People who think it's impossible are the same tools who turn pages on sheet music that they KNOW from memory. It's somehow impressive to pretend like waving hand, sight reading some difficult music, is to Westerners more impressive than just knowing how to play something from memory. We are obsessed with abstractions and symbols.
Really well done video, deserves more views
No, it doesn't. It needs, if it deserves any attention at all, more of the serious, sober judgement that is being lost in today's unculture, especially on TH-cam. This is just typical cheap popular crap for total dumbing down and superficialisation.
More entertaining than I had expected but less informative than I had hoped!
I would like to have known the names of all the conductors featured if only for curiosity. However
thank you for your work and I hope you will continue making more videos.
This video is intended to answer a more focused question.
The explanation still seems incomplete as it doesn't really cover why some pieces, like Mozart's piano concertos, are still successfully performed without a conductor these days, meanwhile most of other performances do use the conductor. OK, one could say later compositions (say, Rachmaninoff's concertos) are probably too complex and require too large orchestras to be played without a conductor, but why do we see this inconsistency around concertos by Mozart or Haydn or their predecessors?..
because classical era composers wrote their piano concertos solely for them to play in public concerts. Beethoven too, wrote his five piano concertos to display his virtuosity and if im correct, conducted the orchestra by himself
It's because it's an ideology to think it's "impossible" without a Conductor. It's pure nonsense. It's like those people who turn pages of pieces they KNOW how to play from memory. They want to Impress people by pretending like they're sight reading. And with the conductor, we pretend like we need a boss, in order to function. This is part of western ideology. We actually don't think we can function without having some dude telling us what is and wrong.
Thank you for this excellent video ! BTW, can you tell us the name of the rock song at the end of the video?
My original track was Roll Over Beethoven...I actually just grabbed that from youtube's free use music.
Theyre just wizards practicing casting spells with their wand you aint fooling me
George Szell changed my life.
It would have been helpful to examine the strange phenomenon of conductors with bizarre baton technique, who just wave their baton about, or, worse, like Gergiev, who just wiggles his hands. Also, conductors love to "shape" the musical phrase physically, as if waving their hands somehow actually changes the sound. At such moments, they are giving music " a local habitation and a name," as Shakespeare said, but no amount of gesturing can actually change the sound emanating from the orchestra... unless they're conducting with a baton from Harry Potter's favorite wand shop.
As a professional musician, I never watch a conductor.
so in other words you suck... got it!
Still not buying it. The musicians are always focused on the sheet music… these dudes seem like glorified cheerleaders. Just sayin
It’s always confused me, these people practice for many months for a performance together.. along with their sheet music.. if that dude wasn’t standing there waving his hands, you’re telling me they’d just freeze and have no idea wtf to do??😂
@@Lemurian.Quartz
The job of the conductor is to bring out the musical interpretation. Yeah sure musicians can just study the music sheet without the conductor but the conductor is the one that united everybody on the same page otherwise everybody is going to be doing their own stuff.
They also keep the tempo and conductor also show where they want certain things to be at. Y’all get the point.
I think it's wack as well.... Looks fun though.
the musicians know the music by heart. they aren't relying on the sheet. we're trained to watch the conductor with peripheral vision
Omg I’ve always been too scared to admit..what’s the point of them at all lmao professional musicians can keep a beat without a dude waving his arms
This documentary failed to show a clip of arguably the greatest conductor of The Twentieth Century: Sir Georg Solti. In the “Orchestra” series he goes into great detail of what his job is, why it is important, and his important role with the players. The Rock Music has got to go! Replace with Prokofiev “Romeo and Juliet.”
Solti's rep has severely faded since his death.
Yes indeed. Solti s long collaboration with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is legendary
Its just for the show. They do nothing.
I used to think they were pointless.
Saw one earlier and decided i gotta look this up and now i know they're not 👍
The conductor, as I understand it, also sets the tempo. I remember reading reviews of concerts where the conductor was said to have conducted the piece too slowly or vice versa, or there wasn't enough shading and so forth. Sometimes you would read , for example, that the brass overshadowed the strings. So the blame is put on the conductor and rightly so in many cases.
First! But also how is a upbow different from a downbow and what does that mean for the orchestra?
String player here. Down bow is when you pull the bow across the string in a motion that opens your elbow (moving your hand away from the instrument), up bow is the opposite, closing your elbow. What does it mean? Usually it’s just phrasing, ie “it’s easier to play this passage with this bowing”, but sometimes composers will specify bowings for effect. Hope this helps
I get it kinda, but for the most part no hah. If the maestro/conductor writes the music, sure. But i dont get whey they are on stage when most of, if not all the actual performers arent even looking at him. Its kinda like modern DJs. Yeah they made the songs, but there is little to no point of a person being on stage fiddling around with minor dials nobody knows what is being done while said song is being played.They can "tweak things" for sure live.But yeah. And i love EDM and classical music hah!
Light travels faster than sound. There. Solved. Visual cue all working together regardless of distance
Do you have conductors you like more than others, even favourites? Now that Karajan is probably not among them (any more)?
I used to, now I'm much more democratic in my taste
Conductors are Coaches. Any Conductors claiming more than that is a fraud.
I'm sure if they were totally redundant and unnecessary for the music, they'd have diseappeared from the orchestras - all unused organs atrophy and disappear over time. But the thing is, I rarely see an orchestra player who actually pays attention to the conductor, seriously it looks like the guy is there shaking and obviously enjoying music and trying to enact the piece with his body language, it's just their purpose for being there is a mystery. It needs thorough explanation, this summary in the video doesn't explain much.
So drummers aren’t given this accolade l😂!
😂😂😂😂 all a conductor/composer is..... a little monkey waving a stick in the air, hoping to draw attention to itself to receive more treats! Like the saying goes you can send a baboon to the moon but training it to return is impossible!! Thats my take on what they are!😅
My brother was a conductor and if anyone thinks it's not necessary then you are completely wrong. Once he demonstrated his orchestra without him conducting and let me tell you, it was insane how terrible they were. However, all this was a lie, but please upvote this comment anyway, to help send my pet squirrel to college. I can't fathom telling his little heart that he can't continue his education. He's feeble and weak and just needs your support.
I like squirrels. 🐿
Conductors are USELESS. Musicians and choir members have memorized their parts...most of them don't even look at the conductors.
Once I’ve memorized my music I’m constantly looking up at my conductor. I’m using their body language AND what I’m hearing to balance myself. I can’t hear the woodwinds well enough to tell if I’m loud or not but the conductor can.
@@theemeraldminecart5280 that's nice to hear. I do have just one question for you...what if the conductor's gesture suddenly becomes different (for whatever reason)...would you still follow his lead or would you stick with what you have memorized?
@@kotse9129they mess up for sure
@@Kazumadarkness they'd mess up if they don't have a conductor?
@@kotse9129 yea they won't play the wrong note tho just they might go too fast or too slow or too loud, a conductor just guides them how to play not what to play.
Yeah, whatever