Musicians speak

A group of musicians, all of them from mid-sized American orchestras, were asked what advice they'd give to young conductors.

The question came from someone who's organizing a conductor training program. And the musicians' answers were amazing, for two reasons. First, because so much of the advice was so basic, and because it wasn't aimed just at young conductors. Some of the players said their comments could just as well be aimed at their well-traveled, experienced music directors.

"Speak up," the musicians advised. "Don't mumble." "Speak loudly enough so the players in the back can hear you." "When you stop the music to say something, don't talk before we stop playing. You'll only have to repeat what you said."

And from there they went on to musical matters. "Admit your mistakes, if you make any." "Hold postmortems, after performances. Let's talk about what went right and what went wrong." "Use the resources of the orchestra. Ask our advice about how to conduct or play tricky passages." "Ask the musicians how to fix things that aren't going well." "CONDUCT us! Actually conduct the performance going on in front of you. Don't just wave your arms as if you're following along with a CD."

All this reflected some important realities. Conductors, even well-known ones, aren't as good as they should be. And orchestral musicians often know far more than any conductor about how orchestral music really works. Certainly they know far more than young conductors do.

But these comments weren't limited only to musicians from small or mid-sized cities. When a larger group of musicians was told about all this, a string player from one of the Big Five orchestras agreed. "Conductors should ask us how to fix problems," she said. "If some passage isn't going well, conductors should ask our advice."

And what's the second amazing thing about all this? That nobody had ever asked these musicians what they thought. Nobody, at their orchestras or anywhere else, had ever before thought of asking them if they could help conductors in any way.

I sense a new trend in the classical music business -- the empowerment of orchestral musicians (not just from these conversations, but from many other straws in a new, fresh wind). And I think this empowerment is an important part of classical music's future.