MUSICIANS’ CONFERENCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3912, 5 March 1929, Page 17

MUSICIANS’ CONFERENCE.

DON’TS FOR CONDUCTORS.

WHEN BACH IS DULL,

(From Our Own Correspondent.) xr Ai- r< LONDON, January 9. Mr Adrian C. Boult, the president, put foiuard some don’ts ” for conductors at the conference of the Incorporated society of Musicians at Buxton. He alsc discussed why Bach seems dull to the man in the street. . Mr Boult; who is conductor of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, lectured on the Art of Conducting.” His “ dont’s ” ior conductors were:— Don’t gesticulate too widely. Don’t wear rings or wristlet watches, i D? 11 . 4 waggle * he little finger of the hand holding the baton. Such things, he said, tended to distract the attention of an orchestra or a AT° lr b 4?°J her P\ eee of advice given by Mr Boult to conductors was that they snould not stand in a rigid, martial attitude but naturally, with the weight of the body resting easily on the ball of the toot.

IVhj, heasked, “does the music of a composer like Bach usually sound dull to the general public?” Mr Boult thought it was because Bach was often interpreted without imagination Tim greatest enemy to the spread of the love or music was dullness of performance, temperament, concentration, and affection for what they were doing were essential although faulty technique was at the bottom of most of the troubles of orchestras. Bach often seems dull to the man in the street,” he said, “because of the failure of a conductor to grasp the work as a whole. Probably 90 per cent--, of the people who listen to orchestral music do not realise that the work they hear is anything more than a stream of sound going past them. They regard it much in the same way as they do a picture or a piece of architecture, but while they can take in a picture or work of architecture at one glance, they can only take in music piecemeal. We interpreters have got to get far more firmly into our minds the structure of a work of music and the wav it is built up. IN THE MOOD. There is also the emotional side to be considered. Members of an orchestra must be in the mood to feel the work thev are playing.” In this connection the’ lecturer told the story of a village choir whose singing suffered sadly because thev had to rehearse m a room with a freezing temperature. It was only by having regular breaks in the rehearsal during which the members danced that they were able to put the necessary feeling into their singing. Ido not advocate such drastic measures with orchestras, but you must have your players in the mood to make your interpretative points for you." While he did not say it was wrong to conduct with a baton, there Avere times when it could be discarded with advantage.

At the close of the lecture Sir Hugh Allen asked Mr Boult what a conductor should dq, if he lost both his beat and his place in the score. “ He can do one of two things,” was the prompt reply. “Dither make indefinite down movements with his stick, or describe a series oi, circles until he recovers his position.”