Waving the Magic Wand

A pop survey –

• What is the most common gripe among orchestra players?

In my experience it’s “Boy, this conductor sucks!”  I have heard it from several angles, including from inside the orchestra (I spent many years playing Orchestral Keyboards, probably the performance opportunity I miss most with having a conducting career) and from when I’m on the podium (word of advice to young conductors – just because you hear something that doesn’t mean you have to listen to it; you are out there to do job and you have to have a thick skin).  And speaking of young conductors –

We held Resident Conductors auditions yesterday up here in the Great White North.  When I came here it was a major goal of mine to re-institute the Assistant Conductor position with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra.  There are very simple reasons for this –

• People get sick.  Conductors, despite being viewed as a close relative of the UnDead, get sick like everyone else.  It happened to me Tuesday, and if we had had an Assistant Conductor currently on staff I would have stayed in bed.  Or my coffin, whichever you prefer.
• More importantly, without everyday experience how do we expect conductors to learn their craft if not with an orchestra?

Question to orchestral musicians –

• Do you really want to decrease the number of times you look up and say “Boy, this conductor sucks!”?

If so you had better get on board with Assistant Conductor programs.  Just try practicing your craft when you’re only allowed to touch your instrument once a month for two hours.  Oh, and did I mention that your repertoire for that practice session will be The Disney Christmas Medley?  I double dog dare you to try that routine for a while.  Every conductor that you see that inspires you as a musician, and that might be a small number I admit, has been an Assistant Conductor at some point in their career.  There is no other way.  Practicing in front of the mirror does wonders for the ego but not so much for rehearsal technique.

I started this thought worm because I heard from one of the candidates in the audition about a major orchestra that doesn’t have an Assistant.  This makes me both nervous and horrified for the reasons lined out above.  I thought to do a quick survey of 20 orchestras I know and/or have conducted just to see what the situation was.  To my delight almost every orchestra had an Assistant listed on their website, and several of the larger ones had multiple Assistants, with conductors in different stages of their young careers having the stability of a relationship with a major musical institution.  I’m very curious what the percentage is among orchestras with a budget o $1 – $6 million would be.

So another question –

• Why don’t we end up with more truly inspiring conductors than we do?  What are the flaws in our system for picking and grooming the next generation of conductors? How should orchestras structure their Assistant Conductor programs?

There are the obvious points which include that not everyone can lead a collection of ridiculously talented, highly experienced, and sometimes very stubborn musicians around the ins-&-outs of The Rite of Spring.  Perhaps we should leave the whole “when I did this with Ormandy he did it this way” disease for another posting (actual quote from my own life) ….

The last question is –

• Are we musicians just a griping lot who won’t be satisfied until the reincarnation of Mozart appears on the podium?

Let us hope not.  From a conductor’s perspective some of the most fun music making I have ever had has been with supposedly “inferior” orchestras (God, I actually heard that term used seriously by someone in the business).  It’s about the music, it’s about communicating.  Not all of us have the greatest technique but we all feel the beauty of what we do.  That is frequently enough to create a tremendous musical experience for all and sundry.

I’d be really pleased to hear from my colleagues out there with suggestions for our own Resident Conductor program at the ESO.  Hopefully our new Resident, codenamed “Skywalker,” will benefit from this.