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After the huge success of our Masterworks performance week and visits to schools, there's no rest for the wicked. Our composition project 'Music Factory' is the next stage for Advanced Higher Music pupils from the 6 participating Local Authorities. Stephen Deazley is working with Fife, Edinburgh, East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire and Alasdair Nicolson is leading workshops in Moray and Aberdeenshire. These composers have both begun this 4 month composition project with 16 pupils coming together in each Local Authority, working closely with a trio of SCO players at each session. This is an exciting and unique opportunity for these pupils, as they have at their fingertips a trio of professional musicians to play back their ideas and give them immediate feedback. Our composers themselves admit they'd love to have musicians at their beck and call like this! From these initial sessions, it's quite clear that we have some inspired compositional ideas coming through and I for one can't wait to hear the progress at the next session.

As a professional violinist, the question I am asked most often by audience members is, “Do you watch the conductor?  What do they actually do?”  Like all good questions, there is no straight answer – and that’s not just because I am concerned my career might come to an abrupt end if I say the wrong thing.

One answer lies within the question - the public is evidently fascinated by conductors. As an audience member, do you watch the conductor?  The chances are you watch them quite a lot.  It’s possible you came to the concert especially because of them – because they are famous.  When the conductor walks out on stage, whether it’s the sprightly skip of Sir Charles Mackerras or the regal swagger of Sir Mark Elder, the public bristles with excitement.  On stage, we can feel it.  Well, you, the public, are one of the things that conductors do – they fill the halls.   

And we’re geared up for celebrity these days – it’s what we expect, across all areas.  In the classical music world, which admittedly has not been at the cutting-edge of marketing and PR since pop music went its separate way, we finally caught on.  Even in Scotland.  The BBC set a new tone in 2003 with their appointment of Ilan Volkov as Chief Conductor, aged 27, promoting him as a Star.   And hey presto – now all the Scottish orchestras strive to outdo each other in conductor cachet.   The RSNO replied with Deneve in 2005, and the SCO now looks set to wipe the floor with the competition after appointing Robin Ticciati.  Aficionados expound in the press about which conductor makes one orchestra more exciting than the other, and while we don’t yet have ticket touts outside the doors, those of us who look at the box office figures know what a difference this stuff makes.  Competition, as the EU continues to remind us, is A Good Thing, and that goes for orchestras too.  You have to admit beyond that, the economics of it breaks down.  A maestro’s fee will be many multiples of every musician on stage – and at the top end of the profession, fee per appearance is on the way to competing with premiership footballers.  Be under no illusions – fill every seat in the hall at classical music ticket prices, and you will still make a hefty loss.  We’re on stage to make music not money. 

But after you’ve addressed their existence from the material angle, talk about conductors gets more mystical.  Do they, you wonder, show us when to play?  Look at Gergiev, who came to Edinburgh with his Prokofiev Cycle in 2008.  Have you ever seen such an unclear ‘beat’?  It’s a wobbly circle. But the LSO love him, he commands top level fees, and has been heard on the phone to Putin in rehearsal breaks.  No, we don’t need bandmasters, to keep us ‘in time’.  We can, and often do (especially in a Chamber Orchestra) play without conductors at all.  Of course in repertoire for large forces it helps to have a visual cue to play off, because the sound that you hear from your colleagues across the other side of the stage can be misleadingly delayed – simple physics.  But look and then listen to the phenomenon of ‘playing behind the beat’; orchestras, often large ones, who play perfectly together, sometimes seconds later than the conductor puts the baton down.  How can you explain that if you think conductors show us ‘where’ to play? 

Ultimately, the best conductors are superb musicians and whether they beat out the music fractionally ahead of us playing it or not, with the slightest gesture they can shape it for us.  We, in a millisecond, can respond audibly.  We are all making the music together.   And the more inspiring a conductor is, the more influence they will have.  Of course, sometimes, players might choose to ignore what they see on the podium.  Think about the civil service department in ‘Yes Minister’, and you will get the idea – but that’s probably a subject for another article, and you know, I have my job to consider.

[A copy of this article appeared in the Herald 'Leger Lines' column, Saturday 14th November.]

That's our Masterworks performance week wrapped up, and what a week it was. James MacMillan's Tryst certainly got a good outing with the orchestra, just check out the reviews! We kicked off on Monday in Edinburgh with a public performance at the Queen's Hall. Paul Rissmann was on form with his fabulously slick presentation, demonstrating extracts from the work with the orchestra led by James Lowe. Tuesday was a performance for schools coming together from Edinburgh and Fife and then we all headed north to Aberdeen. Wednesday saw schools coming to the Aberdeen Music Hall from Moray and Aberdeenshire, and what a treat for their travels. The Music Hall is certainly a lovely venue for a performance such as this. Next up was a journey across the country to the West of Scotland - the Grand Hall in Kilmarnock was our final destination for the Thursday. It was great to see over 400 pupils from East and South Ayrshire at this performance. So now that we've introduced over 950 pupils to the concepts of 'modern' music, what's our next challenge for 2010.........

We'll we've just wrapped up 2 hectic weeks of Masterworks Player visits to schools all over Scotland. We've been to 38 schools, have seen 890 pupils and delivered 47 sessions - whew! SCO players Peter Franks, Adrian Bornet, Lorna McLaren, Alison Green, Alison Mitchell, Harry Johnstone and Aisling O'Dea have travelled from Doon Academy in Dalmellington right up to Fraserburgh Academy visiting the schools in pairs. They've been giving these pupils an insight into James MacMillan's Tryst through instrument demonstrations, delving into the history of the work, and also getting the pupils up on their feet exploring the rythmical complexity of McMillan's composition techniques. Using a Resource Pack prepared by Paul Rissmann for the teachers, the players worked with the pupils on practical Creative Activities, encouraging improvisation and creativity. Now everyone's up to speed on the background of Tryst, they're all ready to come along to see the full SCO led by James Lowe in action with Paul Rissmann presenting in Aberdeen, Kilmarnock and Edinburgh next week. For quite a high number of these pupils it will the very first time they've seen an orchestra live, so it's very exciting for us to be taking live orchestral music to so many pupils all over Scotland. And don't forget that anyone can come along to see what Masterworks is all about next Monday night - tickets are still available for the public performance at the Queen's Hall.