Baldur Brönnimann 28.4.

2020

CONDUCTING
COACHING
10 Tips for Young Conductors

The musical ear is

1. Gesture comes from thought related to your
knowledge of the
The movements you make must be based on the music inside you. You score and the
can't practise gestures and apply them to the music - this would just experience what to
result in empty gesticulation. The way you move is the consequence of listen out for.
what you feel and imagine, and not the other way around.

If we would be talking about writing, conducting technique would just be

orthography. But in order to write words or sentences you need your
musical imagination and the sound you hear inside you. Technique is just

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the framework to make your intentions

understood.

Your aim is to become as transparent as

possible for the music to speak through you.
Ideally, the musicians shouldn’t see you, they
should just see the physical manifestation of the
music.

2. Connection is more
important than technique

All your technique, imagination and

communication is useless if you don’t connect
to the musicians. Conductors don't make music,
they communicate music. You can have the best
ideas, but if they stay within your mind, nobody
will know.

There are different levels of connection. People

might respect your musicianship, your talent,
clarity, knowledge, or they might simply like you.
All of these are valid - and if you make Most of that communication is non-intentional. It's
musicians play well you did something right, no the small signals we send without being
matter how you did it. But it definitely helps to conscious. (credit / Grzesiek Mart)
have a solid technique.

Connecting to the musicians means you have to read them

well: playing music in an ensemble is a continuous
interchange of signals. As a conductor you have to get
“All your technique, inside that flow of information, the breathing, the
imagination and movements and the eye contact between the musicians.
communication is Then you can start to influence the sound and the way
people play. Generally speaking, connecting is easier and
useless if you don’t the flow of information better, if your relationship with the
connect to the people in front of you is good and not clouded by
musicians” psychological fog (mistrust, anger, personal problems
etc. ).

3. Imagination can be practised

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The depth of your musical imagination or imagery is what sets the limits of your abilities as a
conductor. How well you can imagine an orchestra play or a work to sound will determine what
you can achieve on the podium. The neurological process of musical imagery, meaning creating
a vivid mental picture of a piece from a score is very similar to practising an instrument. And
equally, it improves with repetition.

But it is not enough to practise imagery. You have to extend the horizon of your complete sonic
imagination. Your imagination is based on your experience, so the more you open your ears to
new sounds, the more you open up your imagination, too. However you learn your scores, the
fundamental thing is always your ability to turn your contact with the written music into the
impulse that triggers your imagination. Conducting is, in that sense, just a very specialised and
deep kind of reading music.

4. Focus on the musicians, not on yourself

“Playing in an orchestra is not about what you play. It’s about

what the others play.” (Ivan Fischer)
“Not everybody
will like you and
When you start out as a conductor, you think a lot about
yourself. Maybe rightly so, because at first its not very easy
not everybody
to disassociate the demands of the situation of standing on will like your
the podium and on the other hand thinking about your ideas, but you're
gestures, the technical elements of the music, the response
of the orchestra or the timing of the rehearsal. With time, you
there to lead
will learn how to handle yourself in these situations, but this with courage
is something that doesn’t come by itself. Visualisation and and artistic
other techniques to help your control and to lower your stress
are useful. And make sure you always remember, it's not
integrity.”
about you - it's about the others.

5. Don’t avoid the risks

“Der Mittelweg ist der einzige, der nicht nach Rom führt.” (A. Schoenberg)

The moment you step up on the podium you're taking all sorts of risks. Don't avoid them by
going the easy way. Not everybody will like you and not everybody will like your ideas, but you're
there to lead with courage and artistic integrity. Every conductor has strong or weak points, but
don't be afraid to look ridiculous in front of the orchestra. If there is true conviction, love and
talent, an orchestra will forgive you almost everything.

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Risk is an essential part of music-making and

music education. Our programs need risk
taking, our way of making music needs risk
taking and our way of seeing ourselves needs
risk taking. The most important tradition in
classical music is the breaking of traditions.
And if the critics hate you and the orchestra
won't invite you again, make sure it's at least
for a good reason (and one you can stand up
for). Leadership means taking risks and going
to places other people won’t.

However you learn your scores, the fundamental

thing is always your ability to turn your contact with
the written music into the impulse that triggers your
imagination (credit / Heikki Tuuli)
6. Be authentic
“And even
when you’re Conviction comes from authenticity. However much you prepare,
work and inspire, the true charisma comes from you being yourself.

wiser and
more There are very few things about conducting that you can really
learn. That’s because conducting is very individual - everybody
experienced, does it in their own way. To be truly authentic, you need the ability
you're to analyse and question yourself, because it is too easy to fall into
always just cliches and mindless routine. This process is long and you need to
look at everything: your way of rehearsing, your movements, your
as good as way of talking, your interpretation, your leadership. On stage you
your last need clarity and conviction, but when you work on yourself you
rehearsal.” have to challenge yourself and be critical. It is like Alberto
Giacometti’s super-thin statues: once you shed all the superficial
and external you get down to the real essence, the core of who you
are. That’s where real authenticity lies.

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7. 99% of signals you send to the musicians are non-verbal

Most of that communication is non-intentional. It's the small signals we send without being
conscious. A look, a move when we turn a page, a tiny little change of our face when something
goes through our mind. These signals work in an unconscious way, but as conductors we'll have
to use them to transmit our imagination and feelings to the orchestra.

But in spite of the fact that most of our communication

works in a non-verbal way, we tend to emphasise talking in
rehearsals. This is especially true for beginners. Many
“An eloquent
student conductors tend to try and explain everything, movement, a look
rather than finding other ways of communicating more or a facial
effectively. Speech is often not very good at expressing
musical thoughts. An eloquent movement, a look or a facial
expression is often
expression is often clearer than words in describing sounds clearer than words
or musical ideas.
in describing
There are things that you must explain. You can't conduct sounds or musical
intonation or correct a misprint with a movement or a look. ideas.”
But speech should be used sparingly and if you do say
something, make sure you underline it with a meaningful
gesture.

8. Conduct the music of our time

The focus on historic repertoire is absurd in two ways : firstly it makes it difficult to experience
classical music as a live and relevant art form, because the perspective of our own time is
missing. And secondly, because it doesn't allow for the older repertoire to be put into historic
context.

In working with living composers, you get insight into what goes on in a composer’s mind, and
this will influence the way you see the historical repertoire, too. You can't talk to Beethoven and
Brahms anymore, but you can talk to the many important living composers and you will find out
how they think, how they work and how they put their imagination to practical use. Also, you'll
get used to learning scores completely from scratch. No recordings, no previous stylistic
knowledge, no traditions, no help. Working on a new piece is entering into undiscovered
territory, and a fundamental musical experience.

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9. Hearing comes from knowing

There is an “inner” ear which helps you to imagine

sounds and an “outer” ear, which is your tool to
actually listening to the music. Engaged and detailed
listening needs concentration, knowledge and calm -
you have to learn to eliminate all the distractions, the
chatter and reality of many people sitting closely
together in a room. Your “outer”, physical ear can be
trained, but it is equally related to your knowledge of
the score and to the experience of what to listen out
for.

Older conductors often compensate for their lack of

physical hearing with their knowledge of the works
and their experience of working with orchestras.
When I was younger and went to rehearsals I often
wondered why a conductor would pick out one detail
and not another one. But over time I saw my own
way of listening and my approach to pieces changing
and I started to understand. The better you know a
piece, the more detailed you can listen to what
people really play.

10. You never know enough

The technique of conducting can be learned in a few hours, but conducting itself is a lifelong
journey of learning to work with different people and accumulating experience and insights into
the music you perform. And even when you’re wiser and more experienced, you're always just
as good as your last rehearsal.

You will learn from practical work, but some aspects you simply have to sit down and study,
even if you have been around. First of all, you can never know enough about the instruments:
the weak notes, the technical problems, the traditions and physical feeling of playing that
instrument in an orchestral context. You don’t need to be able to play every instrument of the
orchestra, but you have to know what it means to play something well ( as Esa - Pekka Salonen
says ).

When I pick up pieces that I studied, 15 or 20 years ago, I wonder why I wrote all these strange
things into the scores, back then. But we all have to start somewhere. You learn more about the
notation and the style of a composer each time you come back to a piece. And the pieces
mature with you. There is no way you can skip that process, so don't try and imitate an 80 year

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old maestro in your rehearsals. But deep study with or

without the score is an excellent basis for later insights, “The technique of
even when you are young.
conducting can be
learned in a few
hours, but
© Baldur Brönnimann / CONDUCTING COACHING

conducting itself is
28.4.2020
a lifelong journey.”

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