What are composers doing when they’re waving the stick?

Question

If everyone has sheet music and all the timing information down, then what’s the composer’s role?

In: 952

Answer 1

In addition to the very good responses already here, there’s another element: it’s like asking “why do we have pilots in the cockpit when we have perfectly good computers to fly the plane.”

If shit goes bad the conductor can keep things on track such that the audience might not even notice.