Ask An Expert: Conductor Skill Sets

Our latest question comes from Don Picard, who asks...

Q: From your two perspectives, what skills mark the difference between an average orchestra conductor, a good conductor and a truly great conductor?

Don, you may or may not know it, but that is the kind of question that just begs a musician to give back a smartass answer. Honestly, I thought of six punchlines before I even began to consider that you might be serious! However, as part of my continuing effort to behave as if I am older than 14, I have searched high and low to find the definitive answer to your query.

To start with, we should let Sarah have her say, which is likely to be far more erudite and (let's face it) informed than anything I might come up with...

Sarah's Answer: Here are the essential proficiencies that any conductor must master to be able to conduct at any level at all: a strong background in theory and harmony; a highly developed ear (the ability to hear discrete pitches, harmonies and individual voices within larger textures); the ability to read and analyze a score (including score reading at the keyboard); mastery in one or more instruments and an excellent grasp of the mechanics and proclivities of all orchestral instruments; knowledge of the core orchestral repertoire and the stylistic elements contained therein; a gestural vocabulary that is reasonably clear and instructive; and an essential understanding of musical phrasing and the ability to communicate it. The average conductor would have all of the above skills and qualities.

Now here's where it gets a little more nebulous, for me, at least. A good conductor would fulfill (and really excel at some of) the above. In addition, they possess the ability to inspire (a real intangible!), a strong musical viewpoint (and not of the "because I feel it" variety - it comes from an intimate knowledge of the score), and leadership skills (another intangible - a good conductor can, in many different ways, coax and cajole an ensemble to their musical viewpoint - inability to do so means the inability to express that viewpoint at all.)

Even more ambiguous are those qualities that make a conductor great. For me, the essential element is the existence of an overarching individual musical aesthetic that comes from deep understanding of scores and the innate grasp of larger musical structure. The best conductors, in other words, have an incredible understanding of music and of the flow of music within the flow of time - they can take the audience (and orchestra) on a real voyage over the course of a piece of music. Many very good conductors will give you an exciting performance full of peaks and valleys, but for me, this is an episodic approach to making music that ignores the larger viewpoint, the one that makes it feel "right" when you reach the last chord, that takes you somewhere and brings you back.

It's all kind of ambiguous, isn't it? Great conductors have "It", and "It" is hard to describe. The greatest conductors aren't bound by some of the conditions of basic conducting, either - conducting technique itself seems less relevant when there is a truly powerful musical viewpoint behind it, because the force of that viewpoint can overcome any technical shortcomings. And then there is the tricky issue of charisma - some conductors are charismatic because of their musicality (usually in the "good" or "great" category) while others are personally charismatic (and musicianship can be anywhere on the spectrum), so this is not necessarily a good measure.

Okay, it's Sam again. Contrary to my earlier flippancy, it turns out that musicians have some pretty good answers to this question as well. So last week, while the orchestra was recording a couple of Beethoven symphonies, I began accosting people backstage more or less at random, and asked for their thoughts. The result, in podcast form, is here...