Posted by unenamoured with academia on March 07, 2001 at 02:01:46:
In Reply to: what are conductors thinking? posted by in disbelief.... on March 06, 2001 at 20:20:40:
Once had a conductor(english bloke that thought himself to be the greatest thing since sliced bread) ask our very very good oboist to try to sound more like a flute. This same conductor also once spent an entire rehearsal trying to teach us how to properly play behind the beat that he was conducting. This guy was outragously difficult to follow unless you already knew the music inside and out and his rehearsal technique was terrible. When he got wind of complaints about his conducting he informed the ensemble that that was not an excuse as we shouldn't need to watch him anyhow. His doctorate is an honorary one from the institution at which he teaches *and* he has tenure! This institution routinely gets amazing faculty which it runs off and/or refuses tenure but schmucks like this stick around forever!
Needless to say I decided this place wasn't for me and I've since moved on.
Thanks for letting me vent.