LOS ANGELES (KNX) – Carlos Kleiber. Leonard Bernstein. Gustavo Dudamel. Bugs Bunny. Conductors are always front and center of every orchestra performance, making those hand motions with that stick that, to some, look like utter flailing visual gibberish.
But what’s behind the bowing and musical theatrics? Could the musicians get by without their orchestral overlord? Are they all as villainous as J.K. Simmons in “Whiplash”? What does it all mean?
Linhan Cui shed some light on the situation on “I’ve Got Questions” with Mike Simpson. The 2022/23 Dudamel Fellow with the L.A.Philharmonic compared it to being the director of a film.
“So you invite each instruments, the musicians to create a beautiful sound,” Cui said. “The conductor brings them all together and then tries to keep them that way.”
How does that stick, or baton as it’s actually called, play a role? It helps with the tempo.
“Baton is keeping tempo and we hold the baton on the right hand,” Cui explained. “The left hand can, can do more musical things. So you keep beating right hand and the left hand also can show more like Llegado or Salgado or louder or softer like that.”
Now that we have that answer, our next stop is the eternal mystery of Weird Al’s own conducting technique.
Listen to the full episode of “I’ve Got Questions” in the audio below.
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