The Ledger
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Treating arts education as an optional extra misunderstands its intellectual rigor
“This idea that arts in school is an optional extra. It belies a complete Misunderstanding of what the arts are. Because if you're doing it properly, you have to engage your intellectual mind as well as, in fact, I don't know what the other mind is supposed to …”
Civilizations achieve historical greatness through cultural output, not accumulated wealth
“Countries are only really great if they have great culture. It's not like it's then you have a great country, and then you add culture. When we look back at history, we don't, you know, count how much money different civilizations have, because it's all relati…”
Concert halls mirror religious spaces through the power of collective silence
“And you can see parallels between concert halls and religious spaces. If you go into a cathedral, you don't necessarily have to be a believer. To sense something special happening when it's full of people, and when there's a silence, let's say, after a prayer.…”
Classical music uniquely employs a movable rhythmic pulse led by conductors
“In contrast to majority of pop music or folk music jazz, you know, pretty much any other world, there are lots of works in classical music and moments within works of classical music where the pulse is movable. It's what we call rubato, so give and take within…”
Leaders must exercise authority to prevent paralyzing group indecision
“And frankly, as a conductor, you have to have both elements up your sleeve. It doesn't mean you have to be rude to people, although that's also an option. There have been some very rude conductors, but you have to sometimes just draw a line with an orchestra f…”
Music functions like mathematics through formal structures and analytical relationships
“There's actually an awful lot of form in music. It's like maths. It really is like maths. That's why a lot of mathematicians love music as well, because it's all about structures and forms and about relationships.”
State-funded arts organizations must take artistic risks private entities cannot afford
“I think if you have a National Arts Centre, you have an orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, that receives funding from the central government, that yes, of course, we need to offer programs that fill our hall, but we also need to be able to take som…”
Optimal orchestral listening is 40 feet behind the conductor's podium
“The spot that's better for listening to an orchestra is about 40 feet behind me, because there the sound blends differently. You have, maybe not quite the level of impact that I get where I am, but the blended sound is better out there”
Conducting requires a meditative flow state interrupted only for micro-adjustments
“The correct state of mind for a conductor while performing is, even though I don't meditate, I have some, I have a close friend who meditated when he was growing up, and he just used to describe it to me, and actually the experience of conducting is very simil…”
Classical canon works follow recognizable musical forms that composers subsequently distort
“Pretty much every work in the classical canon is in some kind of recognizable form that will then be distorted”
Orchestral musicians require uniquely tight real-time coordination and mutual reliance
“Every time you type a letter, someone else has to type it exactly the same time with you, and that through your movement, you have to be able to coordinate in real time, all day, with the people around you. That any time you make a mistake, it immediately has …”
Conductors must maintain inherited standards while expanding an orchestra's repertoire
“One of the jobs of a conductor is, you know, it's like being presented with a beautiful garden. You need to make sure that what you're given remains beautifully trimmed and everything's very healthy, as well as then developing new areas and in that context, I …”
Orchestras globally use musician evaluation forms to determine guest conductor rehires
“What happens is when you have guest conduct, this happens all over the world, when guest conductors come for a week, the orchestra gets forms to fill out where they comment on rehearsal technique, you know, conducting technique whether the, They felt the perso…”
Orchestral players must stay in sync with distant instruments they cannot hear
“When you're sitting in an orchestra what you're hearing is sometimes completely weird. So, you know, the oboist hears most loudly the man or woman sitting next to him, and then the person does right. So another oboe, another flute, the bassoon's coming from be…”
Conductors act as structural navigators for large-scale musical works
“But with works with bigger structures and longer journeys, I always have an eye on where we're going. That's my job, is also to be the sort of navigator through these bigger works.”
Stage musicians adjust their performances in real time based on audience feedback
“One of the beautiful things about live performance, again, is that we musicians on stage play and perform differently depending on how an audience is reacting.”