Conductor and Musical Score
Table of Contents
4. Concertmaster : right-hand man of the conductor!
3. The Conductor
Conductor
Musical Score
6. The Invisible Elements
5. The Score
The Conductor
The conductor is the person who stands in front of the musicians with their back to the audience!
Did you notice?
Kent nagano's expressions
One of their tasks is to indicate to the musicians when to start playing and when to stop. They also show the musicians when they should play louder or softer (dynamics), faster or slower (tempo). With their gestures and facial expressions, they transmit to the musicians all the emotions of the music. In some ways the orchestra is like a giant instrument for the conductor!
A video worth a thousand words
THE role of the conductor
Concertmaster : right-hand man of the conductor!
The OSM's concertmasters
Richard Roberts
Andrew Wan
In the 16th century, the concertmaster (first violin) was both one of the musicians, and the conductor. Today, the primary role of the concertmaster is to act as an intermediary between the conductor and the other orchestra musicians, more specifically, the strings and the first violins. The concertmaster is sort of like the “right hand” of the conductor. Richard Roberts held the position of concertmaster for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for 26 years! Andrew Wan, born in Alberta in 1983, won the Grand Prize of the OSM Standard Life Competition in 2007 before being named concertmaster the following year.
A video worth a thousand words
Andrew wan, concertmaster
The Score
After hours of work reading and annotating the score, the conductor know it like the back of his hand!
He is ready to lead his musicians. Let’s take a closer look at what a conductor’s score really looks like…
This is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on which we can identify several words in Italian:
INSTRUMENT NAMES
TEMPO INDICATIONS
DYNAMICS INDICATIONS
MUSICAL NOTES
In this excerpt, you will hear the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
The Invisible Elements
What is a dynamic? What do we mean by tempo?
The dynamics, from the quietest to the loudest
Both are invisible elements that influence the music you listen to in a concert. From the 16th century, Italian words started to be regularly used in Europe to indicate dynamics and tempi (multiple tempos are called tempi) in musical scores. However, some composers preferred to write their indications for tempo and expressivity in their own languages (in German, in French, and even in Russian!). Nonetheless, Italian has never lost its primary place as the language of choice for musical indications.
The tempi, from the slowlest to the fastest in BPM (beats per minute)
40-60
52-68
112-160
60-80
88-112
76-100
140-200
~ 140
100-128
> 188
A video worth a thousand words
The invisble elements
Did you know?
ORCHESTRA'S TUNING
G.I.O primaire anglais - vignette 2 copie
Orchestre Montréal
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Transcript
Conductor and Musical Score
Table of Contents
4. Concertmaster : right-hand man of the conductor!
3. The Conductor
Conductor
Musical Score
6. The Invisible Elements
5. The Score
The Conductor
The conductor is the person who stands in front of the musicians with their back to the audience!
Did you notice?
Kent nagano's expressions
One of their tasks is to indicate to the musicians when to start playing and when to stop. They also show the musicians when they should play louder or softer (dynamics), faster or slower (tempo). With their gestures and facial expressions, they transmit to the musicians all the emotions of the music. In some ways the orchestra is like a giant instrument for the conductor!
A video worth a thousand words
THE role of the conductor
Concertmaster : right-hand man of the conductor!
The OSM's concertmasters
Richard Roberts
Andrew Wan
In the 16th century, the concertmaster (first violin) was both one of the musicians, and the conductor. Today, the primary role of the concertmaster is to act as an intermediary between the conductor and the other orchestra musicians, more specifically, the strings and the first violins. The concertmaster is sort of like the “right hand” of the conductor. Richard Roberts held the position of concertmaster for the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for 26 years! Andrew Wan, born in Alberta in 1983, won the Grand Prize of the OSM Standard Life Competition in 2007 before being named concertmaster the following year.
A video worth a thousand words
Andrew wan, concertmaster
The Score
After hours of work reading and annotating the score, the conductor know it like the back of his hand!
He is ready to lead his musicians. Let’s take a closer look at what a conductor’s score really looks like…
This is Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on which we can identify several words in Italian:
INSTRUMENT NAMES
TEMPO INDICATIONS
DYNAMICS INDICATIONS
MUSICAL NOTES
In this excerpt, you will hear the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9.
The Invisible Elements
What is a dynamic? What do we mean by tempo?
The dynamics, from the quietest to the loudest
Both are invisible elements that influence the music you listen to in a concert. From the 16th century, Italian words started to be regularly used in Europe to indicate dynamics and tempi (multiple tempos are called tempi) in musical scores. However, some composers preferred to write their indications for tempo and expressivity in their own languages (in German, in French, and even in Russian!). Nonetheless, Italian has never lost its primary place as the language of choice for musical indications.
The tempi, from the slowlest to the fastest in BPM (beats per minute)
40-60
52-68
112-160
60-80
88-112
76-100
140-200
~ 140
100-128
> 188
A video worth a thousand words
The invisble elements
Did you know?
ORCHESTRA'S TUNING