G.I.O secondaire anglais - vignette 2

The Conductor and the Score

The Conductor

Table of Contents

2.1 The Score

2.2 In the Score : Dynamics and Tempi

1.1 The Conductor

1.2 Why a conductor ?

1.3 What is conducting ?

The Score

Did you know? Entrance onto the stage

The Conductor Dina Gilbert, Assistant Conductor of the OSM between 2013 and 2016, tells us about her profession

Who is this person with their back to the public that all the musicians seem to watch with such attention and who makes grandiose gestures with a little baton? It’s the conductor!

For a long time conductors were almost always men. But these days, more and more women are taking on the role of conductor! In Quebec, like many other parts of the world, women conductors are seen leading the greatest orchestras. In France there is even a conducting competition exclusively for women!

The Conductor

Here is a really impressive example of a conductor’s gestures!

Why a Conductor ?

The conductor is not necessarily a specialist in any one instrument. He or she must have a strong knowledge of each of the sections. Actually, we could say that the orchestra is the conductor’s instrument. It is with a precise gesture that the conductor communicates with the musicians in concerts and rehearsals. Like learning to play an instrument, this particular gesture require many hours of practice and refinement.

In the era of the first orchestras, there were far fewer musicians, sometimes only a dozen or so. As such, it was not that hard for the musicians to play together. Often the first violinist would signal to the other musicians when to start playing and when to stop. But with time, orchestras became larger and larger, and the music they played more and more complex. Eventually it was necessary to assign the task of leading the orchestra to a single person who was not playing one of the instruments. Great composers of the past often conducted their own works. After all, they knew better than anyone else how their own music should be played. But with time, the composers were no longer there to conduct their music, and so a separate conductor needed to take on the job.

A little listening game

Did you know? The Baton

In 2017, a humanoid robot named YuMi conducted several pieces during a concert in Italy.

There are hundreds of interpretations of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, with its famous first measures. Each version bears the distinctive imprint of the conductor who performed it.

What is conducting ?

Of course it involves communicating to the musicians when to start and stop, when to play louder or softer (dynamics), faster or slower (tempo). But, it also involves deciding the general intention and colour to give to the music.For example, we can tell when we listen to the same piece of music conducted by different conductors that each person brings their own energy and vision to the work in question.

Have a look at the first pages of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.There are so many things taking place at the same time!

The Score

The big book placed on the stand in front of the conductor on stage is called the score. It contains all the notes played by all the musicians, as well as all the expressive indications given by the composer (tempo, dynamics, etc.) As you can see in the score to the right, the instruments are indicated from the top to the bottom: The woodwinds, the brass and the percussion. Then come the choristers, also divided into sections according to their voice type, from highest to lowest (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), and finally the strings.We also see tempo indications: presto, which means that the tempo is very fast, and dynamics: ff, which means fortissimo, or very loud in English.

Adam Johnson (OSM Conductor in Residence between 2015 and 2019) tells us about the invisible elements of music

~ 140

140-200

> 188

112-160

100-128

88-112

76-100

60-80

52-68

40-60

Did you know? Tuning

Tempi, from the slowest to the fastest in BPM (beat per minute)

The dynamics, from the softest to the loudest

In the Score : Dynamics and Tempi

Italy was central in the development of music in Europe since the time of the Renaissance. It was at this time that Italian terms started to be used across Europe to indicate dynamics and tempi (tempo becomes tempi in the plural) in a score.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.