Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART ONE The Conductor's Mind
- 1 Background
- 2 Harmony
- 3 Memory
- 4 Perfect Pitch
- 5 Training Conductors
- 6 Youth Orchestras
- PART TWO The Conductor's Skills
- PART THREE The Conductor's Hands
- PART FOUR The Conductor and the Musicians
- PART FIVE The Conductor and the Instruments
- PART SIX The Conductor, the Composer, and the Score
- PART SEVEN The Conductor and the Audience
- PART EIGHT The Conductor and “the Business”
- PART NINE Inside the Conductor
- Suggested Reading
- Musical Example Credits
- A Note on the Illustrations
- Index of Conductors
3 - Memory
from PART ONE - The Conductor's Mind
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART ONE The Conductor's Mind
- 1 Background
- 2 Harmony
- 3 Memory
- 4 Perfect Pitch
- 5 Training Conductors
- 6 Youth Orchestras
- PART TWO The Conductor's Skills
- PART THREE The Conductor's Hands
- PART FOUR The Conductor and the Musicians
- PART FIVE The Conductor and the Instruments
- PART SIX The Conductor, the Composer, and the Score
- PART SEVEN The Conductor and the Audience
- PART EIGHT The Conductor and “the Business”
- PART NINE Inside the Conductor
- Suggested Reading
- Musical Example Credits
- A Note on the Illustrations
- Index of Conductors
Summary
A few years ago I was on the jury of the conductors' competition at the Prague Spring Festival. A young Japanese contestant came onstage and rehearsed Janáĉek's Taras Bulba without the score; he even knew the bar numbers from memory. I was astounded. The jury included a distinguished Japanese conductor who turned to me and said, “Don't be impressed, we can all do that!”
It's a wonderful feeling to know a piece so well that it's in your bones and your bloodstream. As you conduct, your heart, mind, and hands feel inhabited by the music. You're free to be flexible in your interpretation and to have continuous eye contact with the musicians, glancing down at the score occasionally, if at all. That's the ideal. In the real world, some conductors have better memories than others, some pieces are hard to remember, and in the life of a busy conductor there isn't always time to fully memorize a score.
A few are blessed with a photographic memory, “seeing” the page as they conduct. Others have a quick and accurate musical memory, absorbing every detail quickly. As with perfect pitch, these gifts aren't necessarily accompanied by great artistry. You can be tone deaf and have a photographic memory. A famous conductor one refused a contract because it specified that he conduct from memory: “I am a musician, not a circus act!”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Inside Conducting , pp. 10 - 12Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2013