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having played violin for the majority of my life with years of experience playing in orchestras, I can tell you that the majority of a conductor's work is done
by kbar13 12y ago
having played violin for the majority of my life with years of experience playing in orchestras, I can tell you that the majority of a conductor's work is done in preparation with the ensemble. Musicians are more than capable of reading sheet music and keeping time and listening to others in the orchestra to keep things in sync.
Conductors are there to make the decision of how music should be interpreted. They will tell musicians to make edits to adjust the how music is performed. This ranges from minor stylistic changes to actual changes to the melody and such.
In addition, the passion of a conductor really rubs off of musicians in an orchestra and will inspire them to really put feeling into how they play. This applies to a conductor who doesn't know what he/she is doing as well, but with the opposite effect.
Therefore, yes, an orchestra will function just fine without a conductor, but you'll essentially be replacing a live organism with an mp3 player (but with sprinkles of human error added).
- analog31 12y agoI think this is an important point. The conductor plays such a central role off-stage during rehearsal, that it would be an odd disruption to play the gig without the conductor. Some conductorless bands will have a de facto conductor. I play in a large jazz ensemble. The bassist (that's me) is supposed to maintain the tempo. For important rhythmic transitions in a piece (changing from one tempo to another), you might see somebody in the front row (a saxaphonist) waving his arms, or even his entire horn like a baton.
- TheOtherHobbes 12y agoI know someone who works in opera, and the conductor is always there in rehearsals, even when the only member of the 'orchestra' is a pianist playing a piano reduction. And some singers. Who are drilled meticulously until they sing with the tempo, phrasing, and dynamics the conductor wants. In opera, conductors also try to cue the singers, so they know where they are and they don't start phrases early or late. In classical performances the tempo/time signature changes can be fearsome, and by the time you get to late 19th/early 20th C rep (Strauss, Wagner, etc) they're terrifyingly complex. So yes, conductors are essential.