tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930988849407292582.post1748176804040381481..comments2023-06-26T04:55:25.194-07:00Comments on Podium Speak: Are all Choral Conductors poor Orchestral Conductors?John Broughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10836876751710988224noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930988849407292582.post-54424159851220459202013-07-21T19:37:49.338-07:002013-07-21T19:37:49.338-07:00This is an old blog, but I'll make a comment a...This is an old blog, but I'll make a comment anyway. One of the problems is that most choral conductors work for years with the same choir. This is especially true with amateur community and church choirs where much of the conductor's job is teaching the notes. After 10 to 12 weeks working on a program, the conductor will usually get what he or she wants no matter what they do in front of the choir on concert night. Over several years, this means that gestures that are idiosyncratic (polite term) or sloppy (more realistic term) are not what's really directing the choir anyway. BUT, when you put the same gestures in front of an orchestra, the results are way different. If you hire professional musicians to accompany your choir, they're going to play the right notes the first time. They want clear clues, phrasing, cutoffs, etc. And when they get the above-mentioned idiosyncratic gestures and patterns, they quite rightly get stressed and look for guidance elsewhere ... the concertmaster.<br />So the key is, spend time n front of the mirror making sure that your patterns are clear and well-defined. Your resulting beat pattern may look like it came from a textbook, but I guarantee that no orchestra will ever compain.<br />James CoplandAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930988849407292582.post-34573803645313106322008-02-19T06:24:00.000-08:002008-02-19T06:24:00.000-08:00Thoughtful bit of blog, that I only wish conductor...Thoughtful bit of blog, that I only wish conductors in general could read and ponder over. <BR/><BR/>But eaqually important, that singers might read it, and musisicans, too. If everybody fathomed the number of balls being juggled in the air at once sometimes, they might make a huge effort to pull it off. <BR/><BR/>I've sung in Händel's Messiah as both an alto and a soprano, have sung in clasical and rhythymical choirs here and there. The cuing is tough to decode en masse, and charm and luck go a long way. <BR/><BR/>I think it helps if the conductor coaches both groups a little apart from each other. Seriously, make the choir think they're the most important, and then say the same thing to the orchestra! <BR/><BR/>Born in the USA, I've been in choirs all my life and am now in my 50s living in Denmark since the 1970s. It was a great way to ease into the new culture & learn the language.<BR/><BR/>Keep charming,<BR/><BR/>LinAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930988849407292582.post-36719170346545704562007-12-05T14:27:00.000-08:002007-12-05T14:27:00.000-08:00One of the biggest differences I've noticed is tha...One of the biggest differences I've noticed is that many of the orchestral conductors I've worked with as a chorister pay little or no attention to the meaning of the words that are being sung, and how that meaning might affect the music itself. Crescendos or decrescendos or pauses or changes in dynamic in places that don't make sense in the context of what is being sung.Annie's Momhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05980353657789419725noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5930988849407292582.post-5392577362362375192007-12-05T13:02:00.000-08:002007-12-05T13:02:00.000-08:00It definitely never occurs to many orchestral cond...It definitely never occurs to many orchestral conductors that they have to indicate the end of a note at all, since it's never necessary for instrumentalists -- they just stop playing, and doing so precisely together isn't important if you're not adding a closing consonant!Allen H Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04138875935690761362noreply@blogger.com