News: Latest From The Show

Recent News

22.08.08

Sue's reality check

Maestro student Sue Perkins posted a thoughtful article in the Guardian newspaper. These are her thoughts on what she has learned:

"Being a conductor isn't just about setting the time. A metronome can do that. It isn't about grabbing the glory with a few judicious hand sweeps and a torrent of sweat. A great conductor is an alchemical force: someone who can absorb the historical weight of a famous melody, the expectations of an audience and the mercurial brilliance of a host of musicians, and shape them all to his or her interpretative ends. She can bend sound in the moment; she has the power to command consensus.

"As a performer, I'm used to seeing my audience. Now, my backside is facing the people I'd normally be facing, and I'm looking instead at people who are more knowledgable than me, and who know far better than I do what's coming. I am a terribly shy person, but I have now learned to stare at a stranger with an oboe in his mouth, or a viola in her arms, with the intensity I would normally reserve for a lover.

"I never realised what a very physical activity conducting is. My whole upper body aches. Conductors live well into their 90s, and this is largely down to the cardiovascular workout they get. Conducting has resculpted my physique into very lean muscle mass: I have lady biceps. (I can see a DVD workout coming on: eat what you want but beat time to Beethoven's Ninth. Mind you, your bottom half would be the size of a continent.) Meanwhile, my mentor has been trying to take away the props I find useful. He has made me tie my hair back. He's trying to get me to take my glasses off because he wants me to stare, and raise my eyebrows, and gurn at the orchestra. I talk with my hands a lot, and he's trying to take that away and make my gestures really delicate.

"Whatever the critics make of Maestro, I hope they don't call it a reality show. Yes, we amateurs are eliminated as the weeks go on; but reality is washing your knickers and slagging off your friend's boyfriend and putting food out for the cat. It isn't standing in a posh suit in front of the finest performers in the world as a sonic boom of beautiful strings smacks you in the chops. That's not reality - not for me anyway. For me, it's pure bloody magic."