Conducting good music

[Music] [Music] the symphony orchestra performs as one powerful but sensitive instrument the conductor with hands with arms with his whole body sometimes with just a glance a frown or a smile plays this versatile instrument the ways in which he inspires the orchestra to bring to life the writings of the great composers are reflections of the personality of the conductor but conducting as we know it today is little more than 150 years old when orchestras were small it was often the harpsicord who would give the signals and beat the [Music] time at times it was the first violinist who gave the cues with nods of his head and with sweeps of his [Music] bow but as more instruments were added and Performing groups became larger the player leader gradually gave way to the specialist conductor it was found that it helped to have something in the conductor's hand which could be seen easily from the back row and which was light enough to be handled without tiring a role of [Music] music or a stick with a handkerchief tied to one end and so by about 1800 the conductor with his baton took command of the orchestra whatever his methods it is the conductor's function to communicate with the orchestra his language is the sign language both the conductor and the players must understand the [Music] language an important part of what he communicates comes from the score in which the composer has written the music and directions for playing thus in a score we always find the time indicated by the time signature which we see here the four at the top indicates that there there are four beats to the measure and the lower four indicates that a quarter note gets one beat the outline for the basic beats is given by the right hand this Beethoven symphony opens in 44 time it is conducted this way 1 2 3 4 [Music] it looks this way on a chart Q 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 [Music] here on the score of bram's second symphony is a 3/4 time signature 3/4 notes to a measure here our conductor is beating this 3/4 time in a very precise manner 1 2 [Music] 3 1 2 3 [Music] actually style will vary greatly among [Music] conductors another very common musical time is two beats to the measure one 2 one 2 [Music] let's take a look at it on the [Music] chart we have now seen in charts and by Example The beating of three basic musical times or tempos other musical tempos are variations of these basic ones if all a conductor had to do was mechanically to beat time a metronome would do it just as well perhaps better but the conductor must do more than beat out time he interprets and gives character to the composer's works let us watch our conductor as he conducts a portion of the final movement of chaikowsky sixth Symphony note how he uses his right hand to beat out the slow 3/4 time [Music] [Music] observe that the first beat of a measure is always down the last beat is always [Music] up the players keep their eyes on the conductor especially for their entry or when the conductor establishes a new Rhythm Tempo or mood the tempo slows as the conductor brings the sound volume down to almost a whisper here he brings in the horns and now on Q the main theme musical symbols and words in the score provide clues to interpretation but the conductor must translate these into signals which each man in the orchestra can follow for example the conductor sees poo animato in the score in Italian it means a little animated how little or how animated the conductor decides listen [Music] and now retino broadly translated retained or held [Music] back observe how the orchestra slows down and then regains the beat [Music] [Applause] with signs such as Crescendo the composer indicates an increase in sound volume and here in speed too but how loud and how fast [Music] now let us observe the blending of orchestral colors which is achieved when the color of one choir is added to the other to build the full orchestral sound the conductor brings in any choir or voice in the way he desires let's repeat this passage and see how much it changes in character if the conductor gives more prominence to the strings we'll try again this time observe the predominance of [Music] brasses all this gives the conductor a wide range of artistic Freedom this young conductor will help us illustrate how variations of timing influence a composition here is one way Beethoven's Fifth Symphony may be conducted [Music] now listen to this same passage conducted by another artist [Music] but a third artist using the same score May read it in such a way as to compromise between the two [Music] Extremes in each case the tempo and the style have been determined by the [Music] conductor so the conductor the time beater the Drill Master and the interpretive musician all inone using this fine Orchestra as a single great instrument will bring to a climax the finale of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony [Music] the [Music] St [Music]