Orchestra Life
:: Conductors
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The Zig-Zag Way: Leading the Orchestra |
Eleazar de Carvalho, a wonderful Brazilian conductor and teacher at Tanglewood and Yale, approached the score with a method of study he called the "zigzag way": when preparing a score for the first rehearsal, the conductor identifies — bar by bar — the instruments or sections needing the most guidance and attention. The zigzag way is a tool for choosing priorities...As a conductor studies a work, decisions are made about the predominant need for direction at every point, from the beginning to the end, and a mental or written map is created.