If everyone has sheet music and all the timing information down, then what’s the composer’s role?
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The part that everyone overlooks is that the conductor is also usually the musical director.
It’s as true to say that ‘a film director doesn’t have anything to do, because the actors have the script and the cameramen have the cameras’ as saying the conductor doesn’t do anything because the players already have sheet music.
The conductor, as musical director, decides *how* the piece should be played. Tempo. Phrasing. Dynamics. Emphasise. Tone. This bit needs to be really bombastic so I need to hear more from the timpanis and tubas. This is a really sweet, tender moment so we’re going to just relax the timing very slightly when the soloist begins.
The input from the conductor/director is what makes one performance different from another.
An orchestra isn’t just trying to be a record player, accurately reproducing the music as intended. It’s a performance in every sense, full of creativity and interpretation. And the conductor is the one driving that.
Indeed, “conductor” is French for ‘driver’. More or less.
And yes, the stick is there to help keep time but that’s a really insignificant part of what the conductor is doing. You could have a blinking LED on a podium if they were just there to be a metronome.
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