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Jerks who Flail

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Picture 2.pngAmelia Nagoski’s new blog starts off with an entertaining riff on the image of conductors in the media:
I’ve never seen a fictitious conductor who was a great conductor.  Instead, I have observed, fictitious conductors tend to be jerks who flail. 
A number of excellent videos illustrate her point. 

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  2.  Viewing these I am reminded of Richard Dreyfuss’ portrayal in "Mr. Holland’s Opus."  I read several articles about his efforts to learn how to look like someone who really knows how to conduct.  He was coached by a real conductor (I don’t remember who…sigh…).  He struggled with the baton in his right hand, so, in order to look more natural, he put the baton in his left hand, and thus, Mr. Holland is a left-handed conductor.  Most to whom I point this out – even conductors – were completely unaware that he was doing this.  Not that left-handed conductors are tabu – but we don’t see it very often.  I guess he succeeded in looking "natural"!

  3. Read and watched the whole thing.  To me, Rowan Atkinson and Victor Borge both come the closest to the heart of the matter.  Atkinson is downright masterful, not only as a comedian but also as a musician.  I have no idea what, if any, musical training he has in his background, BUT, this isn’t the first thing I’ve seen him do as a "conductor."  There’s a "Mr. Bean" episode when he spends some time at a Christmas market in some English town and he comes across a Salvation Army-like little group, and he does this wonderful send-up of directing them.  Besides the fact that the group is an outstanding group of musicians – they follow his insane little directions to a "T" – the wild thing is, you can follow him!  You know what he wants, and not only because the instrumentalists are there with him.  The man is insanely brilliant in that regard.  Borge’s bit, on the other hand, is just a lot of fun because it’s Borge tweaking (unmercifully but gently) all the little conventions we musicians dote on so – solo moments, group actions, etc. – and the musicians, if you watch the video carefully, are all smiling broadly throughout.  Any of us who are conductors should be required, before we ever dare stand in front of a group of patient musicians (choral or instrumental), to watch this and take notes (no pun intended!).

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