The main job of the conductor of a choir is to get the singers - and any other musicians playing instruments to accompany the choir - to sing and play a piece of music in the way he or she thinks is best to make it sound great.
For instance conductors use their hands, arms and facial expressions to signal how loud or soft and how fast or how slowly the choir and other musicians are supposed to sing and play the music.
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You may wonder why a conductor is important. After all, it is the musicians who are doing all of the 'work'.
The conductor is the person who keeps all of the musicians together, playing the same tempo (speed). The conductor also indicates the correct dynamics (volume) and phrasing.
Since the conductor is the only person who can hear every person in the ensemble, he/she is in charge of making sure the music is as good as it can be by keeping every one in the ensemble balanced. If everyone in the orchestra had to stay in time with everyone else, and they do, and on top of that, remember just how soft or loud they needed to play while someone else is playing a solo, all of these people would find it difficult in picking out the musician to pay attention to and get signals from to perform precisely as the piece indicates. However, if one person could oversee what's going on in general, or more than that, exactly if he's a good conductor, then everyone could just look to him for direction. The conductor gives insight to each player. He is not just standing there waving a baton around with his back turned to the audience; he makes eye contact, stresses out when he isn't getting results, and often times, the musicians get praise by watching him respond excitedly to their playing as each minute goes by! It's very much like when you see a man waving his hand at a crane operator at a construction site telling him to go slow, stop, go lower, go back higher, so that the piece he is holding onto can be put in place with no damage to the piece, or the building it's going onto.
waving their arms about and intermittently nodding ortaking money and issuing tickets
The role was played by Tom Hanks. He functioned anonymously, just a stereotyped polite but somewhat secretive RR conductor, watch the closing doors!
Reg Varney's friend and conductor, Jack Harper, was played by Bob Grant.
Brian Jackson - cricketer - was born in 1933.
Yes
Most chamber orchestras have a conductor. Sometimes the concertmaster takes the position of "leader" and does the conducting from her/his seated position. Specifically, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra works without a conductor. They work out the tempi and other features during rehearsal.