communicate it with every gesture we
make I’m not talking about dancers
although of all people they’re probably
the most aware of the intimate
connection between physical movement and
sound and I’m not just talking about
conductors although obviously other
conductor that’s going to be my starting
point people often asked me what exactly
does a conductor do well it’s our job to
take the notes written by a composer and
give them an emotional shape to convey
the composer’s ideas to get from what’s
in the head of say Jay s bar up there on
his cloud or Judith who might be sitting
in the hall behind me these ideas have
to be transmitted through the medium of
print and then filtered through my body
and the bodies of the musicians I use
gestures to draw the music out of the
players or the singers in a way that I
think conveys what the composer is
trained to say now I say I think but
actually I’m not just relying on my own
ideas in the world of Western classical
music pieces written by composers
generally give us a very good idea of
how to play them I’ll have a conducting
score in France for me with the whole
piece in it the musicians will have
their own individual parts on their
music stands and they’ll play what they
read so not just the notes but also
detailed instructions about how fast or
how loud to play them what kind of
attack to use and so on there are a lot
of clues in there about how to realize
the composer’s ideas so you may ask
what’s the point of having a conductor
at all
well aren’t your byzant trivial even
just on the level of coordination we do
have to give a certain amount of traffic
signals after all it’s important that
and stop together thank you but beyond
that we’re trying to communicate the
essence of the music I’d like to
demonstrate that by taking out the
elements of reading the clues
if a piece hasn’t already been written
down is there an essence that we can
draw out of thin air an emotional impact
that doesn’t depend on the notes when
musicians improvise together in a small
group we can shift our focus from
reading what’s in front of us to
listening to one another by reacting to
what we hear someone else playing maybe
taking their idea and developing it
running away with it bouncing it back
and forth the group creates a piece of
music together
the musicians listen in a different way
responding to one another rather than
planning out how they’re going to play
what’s in front of them I’ll show you
what I mean um Sofia start us off with a
okay loathe as I am to interrupt you and
they could go on for quite a while I’ve
heard them working together and it’s
lovely but I want to introduce a new
element which is I’d like to I’ll ask
them now to respond to what I’m doing
so they’re going to be converting my
physical gestures into musical ones is
exactly what they do when there is music
on the stand in front of them but we’ve
taken that away so this is what’s left
so for example if I make a gesture like
this it’s going to have a very different
[Music]
[Applause]
thank you but beyond that I’m asking how
it happens what’s just happened there
and it was all improvised is this some
kind of magic trick am I perhaps someone
with a superpower can anyone do it or do
you have to be a musician well I believe
that you don’t have to be what you might
think of as musical in order to make
music out of thin air with these
musicians reacting to you your physical
presence will translate into sound do I
have a volunteer to test out this theory
if you wouldn’t mind just standing there
do anything I might stop you but feel
free
[Music]
hey go so how did that feel very nice
very nice any sort of adjective and it
was pleasurable to be able to feel so
the pleasure was in the response that
you got from them yeah thank you
anyone else again if you just stand
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thank you very much thanks I wish we had
time for everyone to have a go because
it really is a lot of fun and thank you
one of the words that people often use
when they have this experience and I say
what did it feel like they say
empowering because sometimes we get
empowerment from quite unexpected
quarters and I’d like to take that idea
and ask you for a moment to think about
power not in it’s hierarchical meaning
but in the sense of electricity because
what we’re doing here is switching on
the power or plugging into the power
supply and then conducting this
electricity into the group of people in
front of us our hands our faces and in
fact our whole bodies become a conduit
for this power and this is where what I
do with music is something we will do
you all do in your daily lives in
various work or social situations your
having a job interview you’re teaching a
class about Shakespeare or the spinning
jenny you’re in a committee meeting
you’re having coffee with a group of
friends we all conduct our relationships
with individuals and with groups of
people how we create music in the world
is very much dependent on how we occupy
space what we do in and with the space
between us and other people simply how
we are in a very physical sense it’s
fundamentally part of communication so
all the time we have the opportunity to
communicate the music within us whether
it’s how violent or angry or joyful or
just tired and miserable
whatever the music inside you you are
already conducting something of your
essence to the people around you and for
them because part of what you’re doing
is channeling your music but at the same
time you’re empowering other people to
express the music within them now I
don’t want you to think that when I’m
conducting a piece of music it’s
necessarily my emotions that I’m
transmitting to the musicians and in
fact sometimes what I’m feeling couldn’t
be further from what’s in the music I’ll
give you an example some years ago I was
conducting a concert of lovely Christmas
music I came back after the rehearsal
and I took a phone call to tell me that
my little godson who had been ill for
some time had just died
well I raged and I cried but the show
must go on
so I did what performers do I put on my
concert suit picked up my baton and went
on stage I have very little memory of
that concert but curiously people who
were there said things like how well I
brought the music across I mean how on
earth could this happen
the music was serene it was Julius so I
was clearly not communicating what I was
actually feeling inside which was shock
and grief nor do I think I was putting
my feelings away in a box I think that’s
something that’s really unhelpful for
musicians to do because we are trying to
be a pure channel for the music and if
we lock our emotions away we are
blocking that channel what I think was
going on was that the immediacy of these
very strong emotions the sheer power of
them not the feelings themselves had
somehow opens me up so that I was able
to transmit the spirit of the music
so the thoughts I’d like to leave you is
ah believe that you to have music within
you
however literally all metaphorically you
want to take that and don’t be afraid of
your feelings because they can empower
you with your own electricity
you’ll challenge then is to trust that
you are conducting your own music
through your own power lines in your
relationships and out into the world
make it matter [Applause]