Speaking as a former member of an orchestra who played an instrument that often had long breaks in pieces, one of the most important things that conductor does is point at sections when they are supposed to come in. 🙂 Think of the beginning of Pachelbel’s Canon.
Sure, I could sit there and count off my 157 bars of rests, or I could wait for my section to start getting ready and wait for the conductor to point at us.
Note: This was not a professional-grade orchestra. Those folks probably all count AND memorize every part to the piece, so they don’t really need this.
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