Dhwanii - Issue 2

Commentary

- Adithya Pratama

Adithya Pratama is an Indonesian Chinese who currently works in Jakarta as a mechanical engineer. Multilingual in English, Javanese (a language which borrows heavily from Sanskrit) and Bahasa Indonesia, he is a graduate from Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Western Australia. He has been an active choir singer and has won a music scholarship and released an album with his choir. He has performed for many VIPs in Australia, including Prime Minister John Howard and former opposition leader Kim Beazley.

Code of Conduct

Conductor and Conducting -
A General Insight

What does a conductor do? Why do you need a conductor?

I have joined various choirs for the past 6 years. I will try to give a general description of what a conductor does in a choir or in an orchestra, based on my experience.

A conductor conducts a choir or orchestra. This means he leads and manages the music sung or played by the choir's singers or the orchestra's components. Here are the basic things that a conductor has to do:

1. Count the beat and keep the tempo.

In music, there is a certain timing or beat as some people say. Each song has different timing written on it, such as 4/4, 6/8, 2/2, 2/4, 3/4, etc. Sometimes a song has a variable timing. For instance, the first part of a song can be 4/4, and then change to 3/4 before returning to 4/4 in the end.

The conductor has to keep count and keep a steady and constant tempo. For instance, if the singer/musician is "late", it means that he/she is 1 bar (for instance) behind the others, or in other words, he/she has lost count. The conductor has to count steadily using his hands (the hand-flapping is not without purpose), and the singer/musician has to watch the conductor all the time. By watching a good conductor when singing/playing, a choir or an orchestra will sing in perfect unison, and that is what music is all about: discipline, unity and harmony.

Every song/music has variable tempos written on it. This helps the conductor to understand the "feeling" in the song that the composer is trying to portray. Some of these tempos are: allegro, andante, andantino, etc. Refer to glossary for a comprehensive list of these tempos and the meaning.

2. Breathes life into the music by observing all the dynamic notations.

This is very important. No matter how well a song/music is sung or played, it can be flat and meaningless if the correct dynamics are not followed. At some places, the music has to be strong, vigorous, and grand, while at some others it really needs to be slow, mournful or even graceful. All these "colour" the music, adds depth and life. And it is the conductor's duty to make sure all singers/musicians obey all the dynamic notations in the music. When the conductor sees a dynamic notation (pianissimo for instance, which means very weak/soft), he/she may put his/her finger on his/her lips to portray softness or whispers, especially after a forte dynamic notation (which means strong/loud). Refer to glossary for a comprehensive list of these dynamic notations and the meaning.

3. Inspire confidence

A conductor has to be confident, disciplined, punctual and capable of becoming a leader. Being confident requires knowing the music inside and out, in terms of the dynamic notations, the tempo, the timing, and all changes to these aspects that occur in the music. Everybody has a different interpretation on every aspect in life, including music. That's why we need a conductor in a choir or orchestra in order to have the same interpretation of the music that is sung or played.

4. Become a coach

Much like a coach in soccer and almost every other team sports, a conductor needs to have a broad knowledge of the music and all the techniques involved in it. Soccer coaches implement strategies for attacking, defending, etc. A conductor (in this case a choir conductor) implements singing techniques, vocal shaping techniques and breathing techniques to "mould" the choir to become his interpretation of an ideal choir. Other than that, a conductor has to become a human resource manager. For instance, if a cellist happens to be sick on the day of the performance, the conductor has to be able to extract the most out of the available musicians. The show, as they say, must go on…J

5. Serve as a customer service officer.

In a performance, interaction is everything. A conductor has to be able to encourage the choir or orchestra to interact accordingly with the audience. For instance, he must tell the choir not to move a muscle before the orchestra finishes the music, even if the choir has already finished singing. Or the conductor needs to cue the singers/musicians to bow after an encore. Or even dance to the music, if the music is so inclined. This is how a conductor can give a bit of flair to the musical performance. The conductor also has to be tactful. Why? See below….

6. Be aware of harmony

Singers and musicians are humans, after all. They make mistakes, and when they do, harmony really goes out the window. The conductor has to have a good hearing to sense a "false" note or two among the singers or musicians. And this is where he has to be tactful. He CANNOT scold individual member of the choir or orchestra. That's just rude. He can refer to the section that makes mistakes, but not the individual, even if he knows for sure that a particular person made the mistake.

Glossary

Dynamic notations:
f = Forte (loud)
mf = Mezzo forte (slightly softer than Forte)ff = Fortissimo (louder than Forte)
fff = Fortississimo (loudest)

p = Piano (soft)
mp = Mezzo Piano (slightly softer than Piano)
pp = Pianissimo (softer than Piano)
ppp = Pianississimo (softest)

NB: More than 3 f's or 3 p's in a composition is uncommon. And the names (forte, pianissimo, etc) are not strictly necessary.

Crescendo = Getting louder
Decrescendo = Getting softer
Legato = Has to be sung with continuity i.e. flowing
Dolce = Has to be sung with beauty and softness
Dim. (Diminuendo) = Diminishing (Notice the similarity between Italian and English)
Espressivo = (You guessed it) Full of expression
Subito = all of a sudden. For example: piano subito means all of a sudden the music softens.

Tempo notations
Main tempo notations are divided into 5 categories, i.e.:
· Very slow. For instance: Largo and Lento
· Slow. For instance: Adagio
· Medium. For instance: Andante and Moderato
· Fast. For instance: Allegro
· Very Fast. For instance: Vivace and Presto

Other tempo notations are as follows:
Con Amore = with love
Con Brio = lively
Con Fiesto = festively
Con Espressione = full of feelings or in other words expressively
Con Dolore = with sorrow
Con Maestoso = Majestically
Rit (Ritenuto) = Slowing down
Rall. (Rallentando) = similar to Ritenuto
Accell. (Accelerando) = Accelerates (Italian really sounds the same with English doesn't it?)
Poco a poco = Slowing gradually
A Tempo = Back to the starting tempo

NB: Those starting with "con" above can be joined with any of the main tempo notations, for instance: Andante con Maestoso, or sometimes the word "con" is omitted to become Andante Maestoso (which means not too fast and majestic).

Please note that the glossary is by no means complete, so if any of the readers want to add more notations or correct some of the notations above, they are much welcome.