The Conductor as Improvisor: Philosophy and Practice

While conductors are expected to take on a wide variety of roles, both musical and otherwise, the question of the conductor as improvisor has been only rarely considered. This project explores the possibility and potential difficulties of improvised conducting, using two methods. First, conducting texts from the last 150 years were examined to determine how the understanding of conducting has developed during that time, and how these various conceptions may or may not have allowed for the possibility of improvised conducting. This survey of literature shows that the understanding of the primary function of the conductor has changed from interpreter to performer, though interpretation has maintained a heavy emphasis. None of the writers consider improvisation explicitly, but some describe conductor performance in such a way as to imply that conductor improvisation would be possible, and some of the texts include pedagogical exercises that contain rudimentary improvisation. Second, four pieces were written which require the conductor to improvise. These pieces were then conducted multiple times by multiple conductors. These performances showed that the conductor can indeed elicit a variety of non-precomposed musical features, though not without certain limitations.