101 Do’s and Don’ts for Student Conductors – Part 1

Inspired by the Your the Boss Blog’s recent posts on the 100 things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do parts 1 and 2, and Monteux’s list of 12 Don’ts for Young Conductors, I started my own list for student conductors.

The order has no significance.  They are in the order in which my fevered brain thought of them.  While inspired by the above, I think this list is its own contribution, no disrespect to Pierre.

Part II will come shortly.

To the list!

101.            Buy your own scores. It’s an investment in your future.  And since you are not having to spend money on an instrument, spend it on your scores.

100.            Be the first one at a rehearsal. Check your situation make sure things are what they are supposed to be.

99.            Be the last one to leave a rehearsal. Make sure business is done, music has not been left on stands, instruments and personal belongings are all collected, etc.

98.            Be humble. Confidence is good, but you are a student working with other students. More importantly, you will forever be a musician working with other colleagues.  Keep the ego in check.

97.             Do treat all people with respect. Music business is a small, small world. Fellow conductors, musicians, staff will remember how you acted.  Are you a flake? Are you mean? Or do you focus on the task at hand and treat others with respect?

96             Do not misrepresent your resume. By all honest means available, sell yourself to the best of your abilities, but DO NOT MAKE STUFF UP.  It will catch up with you and it is a reputation that will stick with you forever.  I repeat, FOREVER.

95.            Do pay your musicians. If you are putting on a recital and cannot actually pay cash, then take care of them with food, water, coffee, a round or two at the bar after the show, whatever you can afford. It will go a long way.

94.             Do be an orchestra librarian. It is the universal way to learn about the publishers, costs, systems for organization, pieces you didn’t know before, everything.  You will also learn that great orchestra librarians are worth every penny you can spend.

93.            Do set-up the orchestra’s chairs and stands. Be your own orchestra manager. Get there early, set it up, make it happen.  Eventually you will hire someone else to do this job.  But for now, it is you.  To quote Nike, Just Do It.

92.            Do conduct anything and everything that is offered to you.

91.            Do conduct every piece of music with energy and passion and guts. Even if you don’t like the music, make it be everything it can be.

90.            Don’t skimp on praise.

89.            Don’t confuse your ability to identify mistakes with the ability to make the group better.

88.            Do feed your ensemble. When it is appropriate and financially/logistically possible, feed your ensemble.  It doesn’t really matter what.  We are musicians we like anything, but pizza, cookies, candy, whatever is possible. Your effort counts.

87.            Do plan for an entire rehearsal process. Write it down and stick to it.  Should you adjust if necessary?  Of course. But starting the process without a plan is inappropriate.

86.            Do study your scores. Never stop, keep looking, keep trying new ideas, new concepts.

85.            Do experiment. Try different gestures, try different facial expressions, try different posture, try something different.

84.            Do know that you are not entitled to anything from anyone. No one owes you ANYTHING. Seriously.  No musician, friend or not, is responsible for your conducting opportunities.  It is all on YOU.  It is incumbent upon YOU to convince them that you offer something worthwhile, it is incumbent upon YOU to bring a group together.

83.            Get yourself out of the way and get to work. Worry less about ‘being’ a conductor and get out there and actually conduct.  It’s not about you getting respect.  It’s not about your wardrobe, or who you studied with.  Can you make music?  Can you help make beautiful things happen?  Can you lead a group to better artistry and financial success?  That’s what matters.

82.             Do make friends with everyone. You are going to have to ask for a lot of favors early on.  Be prepared to ask your friends first.

81.             Don’t be a flake. Show up to the things you say you will. Regardless of the social status, pay status, situational status, Don’t Be a Flake.  See above #’s concerning your reputation and how it follows you.

80.            Don’t chew gum while conducting. Just do not do it, I mean seriously.

79.            Don’t wait for something to happen for you. Go put on a concert series, make some music, conduct repertoire you’ve never even considered before.  See #84

78.            Do go out and do great things. You want to be a conductor which means you’ve got the ego for grandiose ideas.  Go do it.  Make grand plans, raise money, put the players together.  Make something beautiful happen.

77.            Do have a life. See movies, watch football, fall in love, be a human being.

76.             Practice your conducting. Get a metronome, practice at home in front of a mirror, in front of your musician friends, while you walk around the street. Make it clean, clear and rhythmically precise.

75.             Be a leader. Make bold choices, and then back them up with work and effort to make them happen.

74.             Program appropriately for your ensemble. If you are conducting a high school string ensemble, Transfigured Night and Adagio for Strings are probably not your best opportunities for success.  If you have a top collegiate orchestra or a professional ensemble, then you can go have some fun.

73.            Don’t be defensive and brittle. Take your licks, learn from the criticism, and grow as a conductor.

72.            You are not Bernstein. He is an inspiration for all American conductors.  He was a genius musician, brilliant conductor, and a charismatic speaker who was able to talk to anyone and everyone.  Appreciate him, learn from his work, but don’t mimic, copy, or try to emulate his style and personality, and especially, don’t name drop him at every opportunity.  Trust me.  Just don’t do it.

71.            Buy a good camera, get a good video editing program for your computer, and make well produced DVDs. It’s cheaper than ever, and everyone now expects to see a reasonably well produced product.

70.            Do not ever get in front of a group unprepared. Do not learn your music on the ensemble in front of you. Practicing conducting the piece when you are supposed to be leading your ensemble is bad mojo.

69.            Respect time. It is the most precious commodity you have. There is never enough rehearsal time.  So learn to respect it.  Start and end on time.  Professional orchestras demand it.  Student groups will quickly quit participating if you abuse it.

68.            Plan each rehearsal to the minute. See above statement.  Be OCD about it.  Work to plan every rehearsal moment from start to finish.  Even if you don’t stick to it completely, at least you’ve learned something and can plan better in the future.

67.            You do not have enough rehearsal time to wing it. When you have 20-30 years of experience under your belt, then you might be able to plan and execute at the same time, but until then.  Write out your schedule, work accordingly.

66.            Learn the names of every person in the orchestra. “I’m just not good with names,” is a cop-out and unacceptable.  These are human beings who work hard for you and for the ensemble. Learning their names is a first and minimal step in showing your appreciation for their efforts.

65.            Your ensemble is something to be respected and loved, not feared and antagonized. You have 60-100 very musical people in front of you who want to do great things.  They are there because they want something beautiful to happen. Work with a focus on encouragement and love rather than a focus on control.

64.            Always communicate. If what you do doesn’t communicate, it doesn’t matter.  If could be phsycially beautiful, it could be logical, it could be founded on a brilliant philosophy and informed by the best musicological evidence.  If it doesn’t communicate, who cares?

63.            Try something new. If what you do isn’t working, quit trying it that way.  Do something else.  Move differently, look at a different group of people.

62.            Beat one is always down. It is the rule.

61.            Translate all of the foreign musical directions from your composers. If they tell you to do something in a foreign language, translate it, and have it written in your score.  You are the one responsible for knowing what Strauss, or Mahler, or Ravel, or Verdi, or Brahms want you do to.  You will look like a FOOL if you don’t.

60.            Plan your tempos. Be flexible, what ultimately matters is the phrase and the line.  But going in and just “feeling” it is inappropriate as a student.  It is especially inappropriate if you are new to a piece of music.  Think it through, study it, sing it, and form an opinion on an appropriate tempo.  This is all before you have your first rehearsal.

59.            Read a lot. Read everything.  Yes, read a lot of music books – composer’s letters are usually really fun and full of information on the character and nature of the person. But also read fiction, and history, and newspapers, and blogs, and magazines, and interviews.  Read serious weighty tomes on the existence of God, as well as pulpy Sci-fi and comic books.  You will be better for it.

58.            Don’t forget to iron your tails. This is the side the audience will see the most.  Check it well before the concert. Your wife/husband/significant other/mother will be ashamed if you go out there all wrinkled.

57.            Have an extra set of cufflinks/bow-tie/black socks/belt in your bag/office/desk/locker/car. Trust me.  Have more than one set available in different locations.

56.            Practice your bow and entrance. Your entrance to the stage is vital to the theater being created.  Practice it.  Learn to bow with humility and with confidence.  Practice giving credit to the different sections of the orchestra.

55.            Remember that a major portion of the concert is theater. I’m not saying pretend, but look #56.  Your entrance, your bow, your clothing, who you ask to stand, who you to give credit to, this is all important for the audience and for the orchestra as an institution. The theater of the performance matters, don’t ignore it.

54.            Learn how to speak in public. You are no longer allowed to say that you hate speaking, that it makes you nervous, that it makes you puke.  Get over it.  You have to be able to speak from the stage to the audience whether you are speaking to adults or children, older audiences that show up for matinees, or younger audience that show up for your crazy programs that features your composer friends.

53.            Sit in for every audition that you are allowed to sit in on. Just do it. You will learn so much more about the people you see everyday at school as individual musicians.

52.            Don’t get spooked at conducting auditions by those people who name drop, speak three languages, and seem to already have a job. It’s all an act meant to intimidate you.  Go in, know your score, be honest.  It’s the only true and artistic thing you can do.

51.            Learn a language. My big regret is that I know very little of a few languages outside of English.  I wish I was fluent in at least one of them  If you have the time and ability, master one (Italian, French, German are the standards for conducting) and then branch off.

50.            Visit Europe. It’s wonderful.  The food, the culture, and considering the fact that most of the music we perform originated there, you owe it to your art and to your craft.  It doesn’t matter where in Europe, just go and go as often as you can.