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this post was submitted on 18 Jan 2026
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Asklemmy
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Composers write the music, musicians play the music, and conductors wave around a stick to keep the musicians playing the composition at the right volume and tempo, and to make sure the different sections of the orchestra (the different groups of instruments) come in and out at the right times.
Try coordinating all that without a conductor and it’d be a crazy cacophonous mess…
Fun fact, if you’ve ever watched a string quartet performance, the first violinist basically conducts the other three with their body and bow while playing. Most people have some natural tempo, but keeping multiple people on track usually requires visual queues and well-timed breathing.
At the highest levels of proficiency, knowing "when to play" doesn't rreeaallyy require a conductor.
An orchestra of professionals mutates into this crazy combined organism. A hive mind, with thousands of signals being generated and consumed among the members. Negotiations all over the place.
The conductor stands in the front not just because it's convenient, but because they're in the best relative position to understand what the audience will ultimately hear. If I'm in percussion, positionally I'm getting a skewed take on the relative dynamics of the piccolos. As a professional, they'd have a good "gut feel", but thier ears are simply not in the right spot to know for sure. The conductors are.
The acoustics of a performance space are drastically different when the seats are full of meat, too.
The conductor is acting as the source of truth and feedback for that hive mind, from a physical position which gives them the best understanding of the complete sound being produced. While professionals CAN do a very passable job of distributing that work, it's an additional burden and with an imperfect set of inputs. Having one person set the tone and act as that authority frees up capacity on the individuals to do thier best work.
I do wonder why just one person though - couldn't it be more distributed to avoid all the ego bullshit conductors seem to almost inavoidably suffer from?
Oh, don't worry about that. The inflated egos are distributed across all the musicians too. It takes a special kind of personality to achieve that level of singular proficiency.
I think it's one other reason to HAVE a conductor, is to have an ultimate authority on some matters where musicians egos get involved.
In many (most?) compositions, there are going to be some banger little licks in many different sections. It honestly kinda sucks sometimes when you've got one... but you gotta hold it back because it's still just a supporting component. To you, as the musician... you might fall in love with it, wanna push it, take the opportunity to shine and generate some goosebumps. And, obviously, since you're God's gift to the world, you SHOULD. The composer was WRONG to hit you with a mp. Maybe the composer's French Horns couldn't lead with it, but they never envisioned your talent.
The trumpets shoot you a look to calm down? Fuck 'em. They always get the spotlight.
Having a structure with an ego to rule all egos helps (does NOT eliminate) these kinds of things.
This is so on the spot!
I wouldn't say that I have much of an ego, but it it really took some "maturing" on my part to hold myself back in those sections.
Playing the brass equivalent of a Cello, I'm mostly in the background and happily so. Sometimes, there're solos. But then, there are those supporting bits that are just so cool that I just want to lean in extra. Yet, it does indeed say mp >.>
If it makes you feel any better, I always hear and appreciate the little countermelodies coming from the Euphs