Tips for aspiring (and even professional) conductors!

Robert L. Ripley, a cellist from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has some tips for aspiring and even professional conductors! Read and digest at leisure...I found it very useful...

1. Know the Score!
Don’t just know the principal parts, but every last note of every instrument. Stravinsky said, “A good conductor is one who has the score in his head, and not his head in the score.”

2. Speak up!
The acoustics in wherever you rehearse are usually not as good as in the hall, so be sure you are reaching everybody. The ‘back stands’ of the string sections, starting with the third stand, are generally neglected. All too often, the back stands have no idea what is going on up front. (In the band this may mean the brasses and percussion at the back.) Look at them when you have something to say and reach out to them as you conduct the sections; remember too that the basses are far away. You may think that they are not watching you, but they are! If they feel you are engaged with them, and with the music, it will make all the difference in the sound that you get. Communicate with the entire orchestra! When a score would call for reduced strings, Stokowski would always have the very last stands play. It kept them on their toes, gave them a sense of belonging, and sounded wonderful.

3. Keep your remarks positive.
Avoid saying ‘Don’t.’ Instead of “Trumpet, don’t play so loud, you’re killing the oboe,” say “Trumpet, a little less,” or better, just indicate it with your hand; a little hand motion is fast, effective and unlikely to embarrass anyone.

4. Never be sarcastic and don’t lose your cool.
While it is hard to articulate what an orchestra likes, it is easy to say what they hate. When I was in Cleveland with Szell conducting, we played the Brahms Violin Concerto in Akron on a Tuesday night. Szell was ‘milking’ the oboist in his big solo at the beginning of the second movement for all he was worth. When he finished, the oboist made a ‘gimme a break’ gesture (like brushing a fly in front of you). The next day, there was a rehearsal with the chorus for the season finale of Beethoven’s Ninth. Szell became more and more impatient and finally blew his top in the scherzo, banging his music stand in tempo, and yelling, “I’ll teach you to play in rhythm****!” We never forgot the incident.

5. Don’t “conduct the mice.”
Keep your hands above your waist, so everybody can see them. This is often forgotten.

6. Give clear cues.
Cues are important for the confidence of the players, especially if they have had a long stretch of rests to count. Harpists, percussionists and the tuba will thank you. (These are instrumentalists who play very little in orchestras.)

7. Conducting from memory is dangerous.
Do not risk finding out your memory is faulty by painful experience. Use the score and TURN THE PAGES. Do not find yourself fumbling for your place; the orchestra is long gone ahead of you. Many conduct at least the standard repertoire from memory, but you must have every note mastered if you want to do that. Someone asked Steinberg how he memorised. He answered, in his gruff way, “I don’t memorise! I KNOW it!”

8. The baton is only a tool.
The choice to use a baton is completely up to you. When Leinsdorf came to Boston he was not using a baton. His motions were sometimes difficult to follow, so the Artistic Committee, upon direction of the players, asked him to use a baton. He was surprisingly nice about it, but it did not help much. We asked him to go back to the hands. The point is, your beat must be clear, baton or no.

9. Save your best for the concert!
Saving something for the concert can spark the orchestra and make for a better concert. Claudio Abbado was quite low-key in rehearsals. When he came to America, he knew almost no English, so he did not talk much. He used a miniature score, and when he would stop the orchestra, he would hold he score right up to his face. After what seemed to be a long study he would take the score down and say, almost inaudibly, “Is piano? Is pianissimo?” It was not terribly inspiring. But in the concerts, suddenly he was on fire! It was a tremendous boost to the orchestra, so unexpected the first time, and of course, it made concerts really exciting.
While every conductor has to develop an individual style of rehearsing, if you perceive restlessness in the orchestra, you are doing something wrong. Is your tempo too slow? Are you following, instead of leading? Are you communicating? Are you talking too much? Pay attention to the faces of those around you and react accordingly.

10. Don’t skip intonation.
Working on intonation is a bit wearing, too, but must be done. For multiple voices, always build a chord from the bottom note up. Do not just have everybody simply play the chord. Sometimes it is clear that one or another instrument is out of tune, but if not, then build from the lowest note.

11. Don’t conduct only the melody.
It has been said, “Don’t conduct the melody.” That is a bit of a misnomer; you are not going to conduct the bass line. What this means is, don’t conduct ONLY the melody. While you must communicate with whoever is carrying the ball at any given point, there are also elements of balance to adjust along the way, with the left hand, and whatever may come up at any moment. Szell said three things which have stuck in my mind: (1) Remember that the orchestra has played the piece many more times than you have conducted it (unless it is brand new), so do not waste their time with your needs. (2) Never stop the orchestra without telling them why. (3) Remember that you have a wrist. It can be very helpful.

12. Use a metronome.
A metronome is absolutely indispensable. You should not be a slave to it, but you need it for reference, and to set boundaries.

13. Don’t use every last second.
Even though you are entitled to use every bit of your rehearsal time, try to avoid doing it. Show your confidence in the players by trusting their professionalism to that extent. This is just a bit of psychology, but it may enhance your relationship between conductor and players. You won’t lose a thing by doing this and it is a gracious gesture that will be much appreciated.


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