They are your leader, your guide. Without the conductor you are all just a bunch of people playing music independently. That's how it felt for me anyway. You

They are your leader, your guide. Without the conductor you are all just a bunch of people playing music independently. That's how it felt for me anyway. You can play without a conductor. In high school, he had us play Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings without him, because it's such an emotional piece. He wanted us to play off each other, not him. That's the only piece I remember from high school orchestra...