What does a conductor do?

What do we do?  The short answer is waiving hands. But, there is much more to it.

I have not conducted in Japan professionally until recently and my nephews came to my concert for the first time last August.  It was with Tokyo Sinfonia in Ginza Oji Hall and I conducted Brahms’ Serenade No. 2.  What the eldest nephew told me was that he was surprised to see how I changed a shape and size of the motions based on the music I was conducting.  I never thought it that way, but it’s true, we as a conductor change the size of the shape depending on the music.

So, what do we do?

I have been to a rehearsal where a great conductor conducted the orchestra and one of the most memorable rehearsal was by James DePriest.  He was guest-conducting Indiana University Symphony Orchestra when I was a Master student in 2004 and luckily I was assigned to assist his concert.  He was conducting Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 in D Major.  It’s got only three movements in this symphony, not four.

He was just there waiving hands, but the sound that came out of the orchestra was fresh, beautiful, elegant, anything that you would imagine genius Mozart intended the music to be.  I was literally floored as I learned that a conductor could change the sound of the orchestra, by simply standing in front of the orchestra and waving hands.

I still don’t know how it happened, but then I learned that great conductors carry music on their shoulders.  Yeah, we simply waive hands, but there are lot more than that.  I wish I could explain better, but I have literally no words to describe the act.

Here is a video by Mr. DePriest’s appearance in the Young People’s Concert by New York Philharmonic.