What Conductors Are Really Doing | WIRED

Conductor and organist Kent Tritle explains all that goes into being a professional conductor. From the concepts of legato, marcato, fortissimo, and more, Kent breaks down what exactly his hand movements mean when leading a group of musicians.

Filmed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, featuring Kent Tritle, Director of Cathedral Music and Organist, Cathedral of St. John the Divine.


Music Director, Musica Sacra
Music Director, Oratorio Society of New York
Director of Choral Activities, Manhattan School of Music
Organist, New York Philharmonic
Faculty, The Juilliard School


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Music Director, Musica Sacra
Music Director, Oratorio Society of New York
Director of Choral Activities, Manhattan School of Music
Organist, New York Philharmonic
Faculty, The Juilliard School

[theunidentifiedchannel]

Whoever was starting the metronome during the challenges kept starting it at the wrong time and it was driving me nuts.

[fannyberg]

when i sung in a choir i always thought it was so fascinating how we all kind of just /understood/ exactly what the conductor meant without being taught... its almost a perfect musical language in that sense

[katgunter]

I was in choir for 6 years, and I suddenly came to the realization at some point that as an attentive singer, you are essentially volunteering for a sort of hypnosis. Every gesture the director (conductor) make effects the volume, timbre, intensity, emotionality, and so many other factors of your singing. For example if the director was gesturing palm up versus palm down somehow changed the sound coming out of your mouth because you instinctively sort of know without knowing that's what is being called for.
Your body as a singer is your instrument, but the choir is the conductor's instrument.

[JaynePlaysGames]

Man the metronome joining in with the conductor but not being on the same beat messed with me.

[willm]

this guy was my conductor at my last school! really nice guy!

[CIMiclette]

Always blows me away the detail coordination and intricacies that go into the orchestra, conductors have so much going on at once.

[Aaron-kpkp]

I remember my class couldn’t sing without a conductor, all our pitches and timing was weird.

When our teacher then conducted for us, it was music. She showed how important they are.

[jasonbonely]

It's difficult to effectively illustrate the skill this conductor has at being able to hit a certain tempo when the metronome is started at some RANDOM PLACE IN BETWEEN HIS CONDUCTED BEATS. How did that part not get re-shot correctly? "Whatever, just slap a *ding* sound in and we'll pretend we made our point, regardless of the fact that we 100% didn't show what we set out to."

[tanyabhaskar]

It's strange, growing up a musician and having all of this magically make sense! Still really cool to see it broken down and see how incredibly universal this is.

[jellosapiens]

It's amazing how when we talk about music we overvalue the influence of writers and undervalue the influence of directors (conductors) but conversely overvalue the influence of directors and undervalue that of writers when we talk about film.

[UtauReni]

I feel like they should have done the metronome challenge bit with the actual metronome being in post :x

[johnnyonthespot]

I am not kidding - I have wondered about this my whole life (i've listened to classical music since I was a kid) and now I
understand just how complicated it is.
The good ones always make their skill look easy.
Thank you ~

[tynebaker]

Interesting that he was clearly thinking of specific pieces to attempt the specific tempo conducting.

[gregknipe]

I am 63 an wish I'd known this at age 4, my first orchestra exposure, which took me to another planet. I watch every move of every musician I have seen, part of the experience.

[dorcaswinter]

As someone whose got no training or knowledge of music I found his explanation very helpful. You can tell he is passionate about what he does though, because I’ve seen some who are just so robotic.

[Flk]

Great video. I appreciate music content explained by the musicians themselves, not journalists explaining music *coughcoughVoxcoughcough*

One thing that should be noted- choral conductors for collegiate and professional ensembles may not conduct the beat at all. A lot of choral music is phrase-based and rubato so there's not a set tempo, which gives the conductor and the ensemble freedom to express how they see fit. It's also why instrumentalists hate us. :)

[samuelunderwood]

I like how he hummed Stars and Stripes Forever to find 120 bpm

[momom]

I studied music for a dozen years and I find it incredible that so many years since I left the conservatory, this conductor can still immediately convey the heart of the music to me with a few hand gestures.

[mrmorganmusic]

I love that the first visual is a choral conductor! And yet, only orchestral music are we hearing...

[epivot]

I love how he sang Stars and Stripes forever for 120 bpm. My director always does this