hypnosis

I touched in my last blog on the subject of hypnosis over musicians as practised by conductors. It is quite extraordinary how if you are absolutley sure of what you want in terms of tempo and any nuances or sudden inspired "moments", these can be transmitted by the power of hypnosis to musicians. However, you have to be absolutely secure in your thoughts to achieve the result you want. I don't know how it is done. I suppose it is something to do with your eyes, your arm and body movements and you know absolutely what you want, so the gesture you transmit is obvious to the musicians for it to happen. This even extends to chords when played by the whole orchestra. If you know absolutely where you want the note placed in relation to your downbeat, then that is where the orchestra will play. Confidence is everything. This is why conductors have to be so arrogant: they know where the chord should be played, they know the tempo of the piece, they know they are going to do a very slight ritardando (perhaps not rehearsed). The trouble comes when although they know where they want it, they are not transmitting it with their bodies. So only the "natural" conductors can succeed in practising the art of hypnosis. Those who have to study how to conduct, will not be able to instinctively show what they want to the orchestra. The conductor is almost in a trance, so there is no point in thinking more of your technique than the music: too miuch focus on the wrong aspect of performance. When this forcing of your will by some power that is within you happens, then that is the performance we as musicians all strive to achieve. It takes the concert onto a higher level of artistic merit.

To memorise or not to memorise

Last weekend with the Ulster Orchestra, I conducted Dvorak's New World Symphony from memory. Whilst this is not an extraordinary feat in itself, it did free me from the constraints of having to follow the music on a bit of paper and turn the pages at the correct time. This sounds obvious but believe me, if the conductor has learnt his trade properly and studied the score correctly he should know the music intimately and therefore huge parts of the music are not necessary for him to follow. However, this has its downside as what happens if he has a score open in front of him and has been conducting for some considerable time without needing to refer to the score, but suddenly comes to a bit of which he is unsure? Too late, the music is not open on the right page and suddenly panic will set in and pages will start flying as he hurriedly looks for the right place in the performance! Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the orchestra will save him, but they can see and sense the uncertainty in his eyes and demeanour, and nothing destroys the confidence of an orchestra in a conductor more than uncertainty. Therefore when I conduct from memory I make sure I know every note, well not quite every note, but I must make sure I can sing the piece all the way through in my mind before closing the score. I have a video recording of Toscanini conducting a live performance of Beethoven 5 and at the end of the symphony with the final chords, you know he expects a chord in one of the silent bars as he gives a definite donwbeat. There is shock registered on his face, then a flicker of disgust with himself, before the orchestra to a man (in those days) saves him and plays not a note. So it can happen to even the greatest of memory men, and Toscanini was one such as he used to rehearse and perform everything from memory. The audience will not have noticed, but the orchestra will, as they sense what all great conductors possess and that is the art of hypnosis as perpertrated by conductors was broken for a few seconds. That is perhaps a subject for another day, meanwhile I will only conduct those pieces I know as intimately as I know the back of my wife's hand. It gives me freedom and the ability to engage with each and every great musician within the orchestra without having to take my eyes off them, look down, and check I'm on the right page. After all, conducting music is a bit like having a conversation with someone, and when you talk to people, do you look them in the eyes or keep looking down at the floor?