Maestro's

[EllToPay]

What would happen if you had a symphony or musical going on and you took the maestro away, would the musicians suddenly suck or not know what they were playing? Do they really pay attention to the guy with the stick moving his hand, or is that just for show/theatrical purposes?

 

[Willesgirl]

Do you really not know the answer to this question?

[puniraptor]

it would eventually fall apart and sound like grade school band.

[EllToPay]

Do you really not know the answer to this question?

no, i don't bad person

[Cire]

I think they are just there for timing when people come in and out.

[EllToPay]

I think they are just there for timing when people come in and out.

don't they practice that? the musicians...

[Cire]

I think they are just there for timing when people come in and out.

don't they practice that? the musicians...

They don't hear it the same way that the person up front can

[FP TC etc.]

Do you actually want a real answer or is this just a weird troll?

[Willesgirl]

What would happen if you had a symphony or musical going on and you took the maestro away, would the musicians suddenly suck or not know what they were playing? Do they really pay attention to the guy with the stick moving his hand, or is that just for show/theatrical purposes?

 

Yes. They pay attention to the maestro. He or she controls the tempo and keeps the musicians together. Without a maestro, they would not be able to stay together. There are cues in the music to slow and speed up but who decides the speed. The violins can follow the bow in the first chair, but other than that, the other instrumentalists would need the first chair to bob their heads or something. Would not be pretty.

This is my understanding from seventh grade orchestra, so there's a major possibility I'm wrong.

[chum1]

What happened to the maestro?

[EllToPay]

What would happen if you had a symphony or musical going on and you took the maestro away, would the musicians suddenly suck or not know what they were playing? Do they really pay attention to the guy with the stick moving his hand, or is that just for show/theatrical purposes?

 

Yes. They pay attention to the maestro. He or she controls the tempo and keeps the musicians together. Without a maestro, they would not be able to stay together. There are cues in the music to slow and speed up but who decides the speed. The violins can follow the bow in the first chair, but other than that, the other instrumentalists would need the first chair to bob their heads or something. Would not be pretty.

This is my understanding from seventh grade orchestra, so there's a major possibility I'm wrong.

oh.

[EllToPay]

What happened to the maestro?

nothing, chum1. nothing.

[AST]

when it comes to the performance time, everyone knows their job, their cues, etc etc

does it help to have someone there to cue them, probably so

it's more about the maestro having a hugeass ego that needs stroked though

edit:  if you think I'm wrong, eff you, I've seen Money Pit a bazillion times.  Have you?  HAVE YOU?

[chum1]

What happened to the maestro?

nothing, chum1. nothing.

Then why isn't he conducting?

[FP TC etc.]

Also doesn't ETP always post about how he was in band? 

[0.42]

The ensemble/symphony/band/whatever would probably have to revert to the percussion section to keep time if it's a simple enough piece. If it's complicated you either have to have a rock solid internal clock to keep your tempo correct or you'd have to rely on the people closest to you. If there's any discord between groups of people in close proximity to one another, things can fall apart somewhat quickly.

[Breakfast]

http://www.npr.org/blogs/deceptivecadence/2012/11/27/165677915/do-orchestras-really-need-conductors

Have you ever wondered whether music conductors actually influence their orchestras?

They seem important. After all, they're standing in the middle of the stage and waving their hands. But the musicians all have scores before them that tell them what to play. If you took the conductor away, could the orchestra manage on its own?

A new study aims to answer this question. Yiannis Aloimonos, of the University of Maryland, and several colleagues recruited the help of orchestral players from Ferrara, Italy.

They installed a tiny infrared light at the tip of an (unnamed) conductor's baton. They also placed similar lights on the bows of the violinists in the orchestra. The scientists then surrounded the orchestra with infrared cameras.

When the conductor waved the baton, and the violinists moved their bows, the moving lights created patterns in space, which the cameras captured. Computers analyzed the infrared patterns as signals: Using mathematical techniques originally designed by Nobel Prize-winning economist Clive Granger, Aloimonos and his colleagues analyzed whether the movements of the conductor were linked to those of the violinists.

The scientists hypothesized that if the movement of the conductor could predict the movements of the violinists, then the conductor was clearly leading the players. But if the conductor's movements could not predict the movement of the violinists, then it was really the players who were in charge.

"You have a signal that is originating from the conductor, because he is moving his hands and his body," Aloimonos explained. "And then the players, they perceive that signal, and they create another signal by moving the bows of the violin appropriately. So you have some sort of sensorimotor conversation."

(The research study is part of a larger project where Aloimonos is trying to figure out if human movements share something in common with human language; he suspects both are not only governed by a grammar, but that both may be based on similar processes in the brain.)

Aloimonos said the study found that conductors were leading the violinists — the movement of the conductors predicted the movement of the violinists, not the other way around.

But the study found more: The scientists had two conductors lead the same orchestra. One was a veteran who exercised an iron grip over the violinists. The other was an amateur.

"What we found is the more the influence of the conductor to the players, the more aesthetic — aesthetically pleasing the music was overall," Aloimonos said.

Music experts who listened to the performance of the orchestra under the control of the two conductors found the version produced by the authoritarian conductor superior. Remember, these experts didn't know which version was being led by the veteran conductor and which by the amateur. All they heard was the music.

[chum1]

You know who would never be a maestro?  A black quarterback.

[DQ12]

maestro's what?

[sys]

great question and great thread.

[bones129]

I had never considered this question until now.

[Cartierfor3]

What would happen if you had a symphony or musical going on and you took the maestro away, would the musicians suddenly suck or not know what they were playing? Do they really pay attention to the guy with the stick moving his hand, or is that just for show/theatrical purposes?

 

If they were really good, someone in the front (depends on the ensemble), would probably just stand up and cue the sections that need cuing.  If it was something simple, say like a John Phillip Sousa march, and the musicians were even mildly good, they'd be fine.  If it was something more complex with multiple tempo or time signature changes, it could get rough.  But if the group is well rehearsed, they'd probably be ok. 

[DQ12]

maestro's what?

give it a rest.  possessive/plural nouns are hard.

[Unruly]

maestro's what?

give it a rest.  possessive/plural nouns are hard.

Sock outed?

[Mr Bread]

maestro's what?

give it a rest.  possessive/plural nouns are hard.

Sock outed?