The conductor is the fellow who waves his hands on the dais in front of the orchestra. The stick in his hand is called the baton - like a policeman's baton.
The members of a music band or group, as well as the members of a chamber orchestra, that includes four or five instruments, keep in synch by listening to each other and following each other's leads. An orchestra cannot do that: there are too many instruments playing too many different parts at the same time.
At rehearsal time, the conductor's job is to prepare the orchestra and the stage performers. If an orchestra rehearsed without a conductor, the brass section would drown out the strings, the winds would be out of synch with everyone else, and the singers would get in a beat early and sing too slowly, as they tend to do even with a conductor present. The conductor tells the brass to tone it down; asks the strings to liven it up a notch; yells at the woodwinds, telling them they're playing in the wrong key; shows the tenor exactly where he needs to be patient, and the soprano where she needs to speed up.
The conductor's right hand normally keeps the beat - the tempo - while his left cues in singers and sections of the orchestra; it (the left hand) also indicates to them how loud, exactly, they should play. Most conductors like to maintain eye contact with as many performers as possible. It is the duty of the musicians in the pit and singers on the stage to follow the conductor's instructions. Thus, if you run into a bad performance with dragging tempi, lack of clarity from the orchestra, screwed-up entries by the singers, etc, it is most likely the conductor's fault.
The conductor's prime duty is to perform the music the way its author would have liked to hear it. Unfortunately, in performing arts today it is a common belief that the performers themselves are "artists" and should be allowed to show off their "creativity," even though there is no evidence whatsoever to support this view. For about fifty years, opera suffered from the dragging-tempi fad (if you slow it down, opera music dies outright - becomes so much boring noise - loses its edge).
Nearly all conductors thought that the audience would only "get" the music if you spoon-fed it to them, note by slow note - only ten years ago. Today, the fad is, mercifully, disappearing, and only old, renowned conductors who are set in their ways continue to subject audiences to dragging tempi, and only old, hopelessly conservative opera administrators continue singing contracts with them.
The new generation of conductors is decidedly a lot more honest professionally and has infinitely better taste. Thus, "Tosca," "Aida," "Carmen," "Ziegfried" are once again captivating masterpieces and not just museum-quality relics of times gone by that folks used to appreciate.
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Source: www.articlesbase.com
