What is the point of the conductor's left hand?

[Anastasius]

I say this slightly tongue in cheek but I am curious. While at the front in the arena the other week it gave me an excellent viewpoint to watch the conductor, his arm movements and the orchestra. I noticed that the strings hardly ever looked up at the conductor. On the other hand the timpanist would be poised looking at the conductor and when the conductor looked in his direction would cock his head back as if to say "I'm ready" whereupon he got his cue.

The woodwind seemed to look at the conductor much more than the strings as did the brass section.

So with so few musicians actually looking at the conductor, what is it with all the left hand movement?

Is the fact that the strings hardly ever look at him because they are busy playing a rather lot of notes compared to, say, the timpanist?

Genuinely curious to now.

[Pabmusic]

...Is the fact that the strings hardly ever look at him because they are busy playing a rather lot of notes compared to, say, the timpanist?

Genuinely curious to now.

Despite many jokes (maybe best of all in Bruce Montgomery's Raising The Wind, where a young music student asks the old battle-scarred leader who conducted last week's performance of Messiah. The response is: "Don't know. Wasn't looking") all orchestral players look at the conductor. How could they not do so?

For a start, you position your stand so you can see both the music and the conductor, and you keep yourself aware of the conductor all the time, with your peripheral vision. You have already rehearsed the piece with the conductor and have made enough pencilled notes on your part to remind you just when to pay particular attention to the conductor (awkward 'corners'). You also ought to be in a position where you're not sight=reading, so you don't have to follow the music every moment.

There's a Fawlty Towers episode where Basil explains how he can look at one person while talking to another - it's similar with orchestral playing, though not with speech.

As for the conductor's left hand, for many it's the expressive one.

(I've just realised that the point of the left hand is...the middle fingernail. )

[Anastasius]

Many thanks for that. What you say makes a lot of sense.

I understand you but have to confess that being where I was right up at the front rail, I am convinced that most of the first violins had their heads down! But maybe that's the BPO for you ! Perhaps the Mahler 6 might have been more expressive if they had looked up !

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I understand you but have to confess that being where I was right up at the front rail, I am convinced that most of the first violins had their heads down! But maybe that's the BPO for you ! Perhaps the Mahler 6 might have been more expressive if they had looked up !

BSO (Boston, not Berlin).

[Anastasius]

BSO (Boston, not Berlin).

Oops...freudian slip there.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Some conductors are left handed. That's fine, except when they reverse the crossbeats.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oops...freudian slip there.

Well - they all sound alike these days!

[Hornspieler]

The conductor can indicate when he wants more volume, or less (even putting the left forefinger to his lips!) or indicate entries from the brass or woodwinds at certain points in the score.

But remember. The conductor has a duty as a showman - to present the orchestra's playing and his own interpretation to the audience.

To put it more simply, it is his job to show the "customers" what they are getting for their money.

HS

[Stillhomewardbound]

... and what a low opinion we'd have of conductor and orchestra if he or she were to nonchalantly have the left hand in their trouser pocket jangling their change.

[Serial_Apologist]

Well - they all sound alike these days!

What is the sound of one hand?

[Hornspieler]

The conductor can indicate when he wants more volume, or less (even putting the left forefinger to his lips!) or indicate entries from the brass or woodwinds at certain points in the score.

But remember. The conductor has a duty as a showman - to present the orchestra's playing and his own interpretation to the audience.

To put it more simply, it is his job to show the "customers" what they are getting for their money.

HS

I forgot two most important functions for the left hand:

1. To turn the pages if conduction from a full score.

2. To tell the audience to shut up when they start to applaud between movements or before the last notes have faded away.

I remember Beecham's reaction when a soprano's aria was greeted with tumultuous applause before the orchestra had finishe playing:

"Quiet!, QUIET! ...Savages!"

[Bryn]

I forgot two most important functions for the left hand:

1. To turn the pages if conduction from a full score.

2. To tell the audience to shut up when they start to applaud between movements or before the last notes have faded away.

I remember Beecham's reaction when a soprano's aria was greeted with tumultuous applause before the orchestra had finishe[d] playing:

"Quiet!, QUIET! ...Savages!"

A clear case of the piper forgetting who calls the tune.

[teamsaint]

A clear case of the piper forgetting who calls the tune.

a very polite way of putting what I was thinking, Bryn.

[Nick Armstrong]

I forgot two most important functions for the left hand:

1. To turn the pages if conduction from a full score.

2. To tell the audience to shut up when they start to applaud between movements or before the last notes have faded away.

I remember Beecham's reaction when a soprano's aria was greeted with tumultuous applause before the orchestra had finishe playing:

"Quiet!, QUIET! ...Savages!"

Also, not forgetting the vital job of indicating to the horns how well they're doing and would they like to join him afterwards for a drink....

[Dave2002]

Who is, or was, that conductor? I'm not sure if it's anyone I should recognise - a slight resemblance to Monteux or Strauss, but I don't think it's either, and I'd be very surprised if it turned out to have been Beecham!