whoof.

[emmacrew]

I'd forgotten how much upper arm strength conducting uses. In retrospect, I think it's a very good thing that I'd taken fencing the year before I took conducting back in college. A foil is a lot heavier than a baton, and if you can hold a foil up for an hour or two, conducting is comparatively easy-peasy, at least physically

Comments

[sandthistle]

My college conductor's doctor was doing a first visit physical and he looked at her funny and said "Um... Do you swim or something?" :)

[mattsnaps]

My high school conductor always liked to use this puny little baton (4" plus the handle, or so). He claimed it was because he could do things faster, but we all figured it was because he was lazy.

[emmacrew]

I wasn't even using a baton (not sure if I could even lay hands on mine at the moment), because I hadn't been expecting to conduct until after I got there. When I first walked in someone said "you're going to play the piano!" and I said "uh, I think you'd be sad if I did." Plunking out one part or the bass line is within my piano skillset, playing the whole accompaniment, not so much.

Tales of Hoffmann was really excellent. Worth checking out before it goes, act 1 was utterly hilarious.