Bill's Musical Notes
The Conductor
I had no intention of conducting Newent Orchestra, but that's just the way things have worked out and I'm looking forward to making my contribution up-front over the next phase of the orchestra's history. In particular, this means getting us up and running again after a break of eighteen months - yes, rehearsals resume again on 4th September. Hooray! The break has seen the retirement of our long-standing conductor, George Taylor, and at some appropriate point we'll be celebrating his almost lifelong association with the orchestra in a fitting manner.
I was musing on the idea of the conductor and some word associations. An obvious one is of 'handing on the baton'. Then there is the on-the-surface-of-it-unrelated-now-vanished bus conductor, whose job was to sell tickets, help passengers on and off the bus and ring the bell. Hmm, I suppose I could sell a few concert tickets. And then there is the electrical conductor, a conduit for the transmission of power. That's a bit more like it! So where does the orchestra conductor come from? Initially, groups of musicians had no conductor until Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-87) came along and beat time by thumping a big stick on the floor, only to cripple his foot with a gangrenous, terminal thump. Maybe that's why the stick became so small and thin - nothing life-threatening about it now, even if one flew out of the conductor's grasp. Anecdotal evidence suggests that to achieve discipline with the Vingt-quatre Violons du Roi at the French royal court , Lully was not averse to taking hold of a player’s violin and smashing it over his head. I'll probably not be doing that either. And here's a good musical pub-quizz question: who invented the time-saving rehearsal mark, the lettering or numbering in a score that enables the conductor to shout, "Go from letter F", etc? It was Louis Spohr (1784-1859), a contemporary of Nicolo Paganini and a prolifically inventive violinist and pedagogue who is also credited with the introduction of the violin chin rest and - the conductor's baton. Interesting hair styles seems to be a part of the conductor's persona, so I suppose I'll have to keep that tradition going... Newent Orchestra's first conductor was the iconic Carline Crampton from 1940-88, who, just short of 50 years with the orchestra, passed the baton on to Adrian Courtney for a while, 1988-93, and then on to George in 1993, who has, since then and just short of 30 years, guided us through innumerable enjoyable rehearsals and successful concerts. My turn. This is going to be fun... Bill Anderton
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Find out more about our conductor, Bill Anderton's work:
The Final Score - book
Explores music and
in particular the composition of a new piece. Features the Newent Orchestra. Available on Amazon as paperback or Kindle. Ramblings About Music
Discusses a wide range of
musical topics, from the ancient Greeks to modern times, with the beautiful Offa's Dyke trail as a backdrop, and talking about music the entire length of the route. Also available on Amazon as paperback or Kindle. |
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