[orchestral music]

Start practicing harder.

You guys can really play.

[choir singing]

Hi everybody, I'm Marin Alsop.

[Narrator] Marin began conducting in 1980.

She's currently the chief conductor

of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Today I'll be breaking down clips

from movies and TV, about orchestras.

Technique, Mr. Holland's Opus.

[drummer drumming]

[upbeat music]

When he starts the piece,

it looks as though it's going to be a very quiet opening.

Certainly not [imitating drums] in the drums.

[drummer drumming]

You really have to set up the drums in a much bigger way.

[orchestral music]

Another big issue I have with this clip

is that I can't imagine any student orchestra

playing at this level.

[trumpets sounding]

The high trumpets, the horns.

[horns sounding]

The articulation.

[orchestral music]

This is way, way, way beyond a high school orchestra

could possibly play.

[orchestral music]

The character of Mr. Holland, he's basically

just beating time.

It's a very robotic approach to conducting with both arms

doing the exact same thing.

[orchestral music]

And this is one of the basic conducting issues

that we try to discourage our students from doing.

We're not hear to impress each other.

Conducting is all about separating your hands,

so that you can create two different worlds.

The right hand controls the pulse, the beat,

and has to be in a pattern, a four pattern, two, three,

four, a three pattern one, two, three, or two pattern.

And the left hand is all about emotion,

about gesture, about dynamics.

This is getting louder, this is getting softer.

There's a lot that the musicians read from our faces,

but mostly it's working on this independence of hands,

which he doesn't exhibit whatsoever in this clip.

[orchestral music]

We know that this is a sort of a very empowering

and emotional scene,

[orchestral music]

but from watching his gestures,

we really wouldn't know that.

Made a little error there.

Lingo, Amadeus.

Come, let's begin.

A minor.

Confutatis, A minor.

The lingo used here is a combination of two things.

One is the text for the Requiem mass,

and this is from the Latin text for the mass,

and the section that they're working on

is the Confutatis.

♪ Confutatis ♪

So that's actually the lyric that Mozart is composing

at that moment. Yes, yes, yes,

yes, yes, yes, go on.

Voca me, sotto voce.

Write that down, sotto voce.

Yes, yes, yes. Pianissimo.

When Mozart asks Salieri to please write in,

sotto voce, that's an Italian instruction

that composers use to describe the quality of the sound.

And sotto voce means, under voice,

so it's almost like whispering.

End on dictus. Yes.

And underneath just violins, arpeggioses.

For the other term, arpeggio,

that's when the orchestration outlines the triads,

outlines the notes [Marin singing].

[Mozart singing]

Descending scale in eighth notes,

and then back to the ostinato again, and that's it.

That's an arpeggio.

Trumpets in D. No, no.

Listen to me. No, I don't understand.

Listen.

When Salieri says, I don't understand,

I don't think that's realistic.

He would have definitely understood.

I don't understand. The director is trying

to point out how advanced Mozart was.

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, go on.

I absolutely love this movie.

It's historically not 100% accurate,

It's not to be believed.

but it so captures the immense talent of Mozart.

Thank you. And the sense

that he knew what he wanted to write,

and he could just put it right into the full score,

just out of his head.

As if he were just taking dictation

of music already finished in his head.

Motivation, Whiplash.

[jazz music]

[chair crashing]

Were you rushing or were you dragging?

You know, I can barely discern that he's rushing

ever so slightly,

[jazz music]

but you know, often musicians, they need a little bit

of runway to get into the groove of a piece,

especially young musicians.

The teacher has absolutely no tolerance

for any kind of imperfection.

Start counting.

Five, six, seven. In four, dammit, look at me.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

Count again. I think this kind

of approach, you know, where you break,

where a teacher breaks a student, and then remold them,

and rebuild them in kind of in their image,

it's a very self-centered, narcissistic way of teaching.

[jazz music]

[chair crashing]

It can be effective because it's terrifying.

Answer. But I don't think people

learn out of fear.

Start practicing harder Neiman.

Whiplash, bar 125.

The music business is highly competitive.

It's not unusual in a student setting

to have competitions for the first chair.

So, you know, this can be either an extremely productive

and positive experience, or it can be

like it is in, Whiplash.

It can be a competition almost to the death.

Why are you still sitting there, get the [beep] out.

Novice conductor, Mr. Bean.

[people laughing]

[orchestral music]

[people laughing]

[orchestral music]

When I start the opening of Beethoven's, Fifth Symphony,

[Marin singing], always have to be very careful not

to make a gesture before that opening gesture,

because somebody will play.

[orchestral music]

[people laughing]

And that's, what's so cute about this.

It makes me laugh out loud.

[orchestral music]

He just moves the baton and he gets a chord, bah.

[orchestral music]

As a first time conductor, I definitely give him high marks.

[orchestral music]

He understands the idea of body language and response.

[orchestral music]

And that's what comes across so clearly in this little clip.

Conducting a choir, Sister Act.

♪ Our hope in sorrow and in woe, whoa ♪

♪ Oh, Maria ♪

First of all, I have to say, I love her enthusiasm.

♪ Alleluia ♪

You'll notice in this clip, and it's quite realistic,

that Whoopi doesn't use any baton, she uses just her hands.

♪ Our sweetness here below ♪

This is quite typical of choir conductors.

It's more about dictating what's happening

and really describing it with your, with both hands,

as opposed to very elaborate patterns and trying

to give cues to everyone.

♪ Triumph all ye cherubim, cherubim ♪

♪ Sing with us ♪

This is a much more visceral kind of approach

to conducting and I find that with choirs,

it really works well.

♪ Salve Regina ♪

♪ Salve, Salve Regina ♪

I absolutely adore Whoopi Goldberg,

I think she's phenomenal in this role.

We could rock this place.

There's so much heart in it, and I think as a conductor,

that's really what we're trying to do.

We're trying to inspire others to be the best they can be.

That's our goal.

♪ Ah ♪

Rehearsal, Unorthodox.

[orchestral music]

Okay.

The thing that I love about this clip

is that the orchestra is really

playing the Dvorak, String Serenade.

[orchestral music]

The level that they're playing at, is a level

that would be consistent with a student orchestra.

[orchestral music]

Dasia, where are you today?

I was playing the wrong bowings.

That's not exactly what a young violinist would say.

They would say I was on the wrong bow,

or I was doing the wrong bowings.

In essence, what it means is that someone is out of sync.

[Teacher] Where are you today?

When one player in a section is going in opposition,

it can really upset the look of the section,

and the ensemble too, because string sections

are accustomed to doing the same bowings, at the same time.

[orchestral music]

What we're seeing is the main character trying

to imagine herself in this setting.

[piano music]

But what I loved about this series is that it didn't pretend

to suddenly make a virtuoso out of someone

who couldn't possibly have achieved that level yet.

There are singers who are born with beautiful voices,

but no one comes out of Brooklyn after a few lessons

on the piano ready to play the philharmonie.

Instead, it was much more realistic

about whether she could get into this conservatory,

and if so, on what instrument?

Not on the piano, not ever, I'm sorry.

Imitation, Copying Beethoven.

[orchestral music]

We see the premiere of Beethoven's final symphony,

his monumental, Ninth Symphony.

[orchestral music]

And by this time in his life, he was almost entirely deaf.

[orchestral music]

He's following the conducting of the actress

in front of him and really imitating her gestures,

because of course he can't hear the orchestra,

and can't react to it.

[orchestral music]

It's not an easy thing to do, to do the exact opposite

of what you normally do.

I actually have played in an orchestra where someone

who didn't read music was taught to conduct

in this way.

It was a very odd thing to experience,

but it was quite fascinating in a way,

to see this kind of symbiotic conducting experience.

[orchestral music]

The premiere of Beethoven's, Ninth Symphony,

could not have possibly sounded this good.

The piece was incredibly hard for the orchestra of that day.

They only had one day of rehearsal.

[orchestral music]

I want to say while I enjoy this clip so much,

I think that the playing is far too good.

You must experience these works of mine.

Conducting dancers, Mozart in the Jungle.

[orchestral music]

We don't even know where this music is coming from,

[orchestral music]

but this whole scene plays into this maestro mythology.

You know, the idea of the conductor as this magician,

this inaccessible and talented creature,

That's very mysterious.

that somehow can conjure up music from thin air.

Just like that. I mean, of course,

I don't believe this for a second.

[orchestral music]

This is not really an instance of dancers reacting

to the conductor, because they clearly

have their own choreography and their own movements.

[orchestral music]

I think this whole series, Mozart in the Jungle,

has been absolutely wonderful for classical music

in terms of bringing it into our homes and demystifying it,

but it also is a bit unrealistic.

Come on, man.

Relationships, Meeting Venus.

Members of the orchestra work according to a schedule

agreed within the union and the management.

So it was pointless to have a real soul yesterday,

and it will be equally pointless to talk

about my ideas today.

I think this is a fascinating clip,

because it really gives you some insight

into the hierarchy of, you know, who's really in charge.

I beg you to let me work, please.

When we see conductors with orchestras,

they are clearly, you know, in the alpha role,

but when we see conductors in the opera house,

the conductor has to contend of course, with the musicians.

Will you be here?

I don't know, I haven't looked at my schedule.

You have a diva like Glenn Close.

Karin, may I introduce to you, Maestro Szanto.

Mm-hmm. You have to deal with that.

The conductor is definitely on the bottom of this hierarchy.

Whole aria.

[pages turning]

[singing in German]

That is not something that would normally happen.

The soloist speaks with the conductor and says,

What's our plan, what shall we do?

And then the conductor would ask the orchestra,

Please let's turn to this aria.

[singing in German]

[watches beeping]

I have great empathy for the character Szanto,

the conductor in this clip.

We didn't agree to anything, maestro.

We weren't even here yesterday.

There have been situations that I've been in where,

oh, people don't show up, or someone's ill,

and I've gone to an opera performance,

and I have a different cast in the evening

from what I had at the rehearsal.

You have to somehow manage all of these catastrophes.

Now do you see what I have to put up with all the time?

Can you shut them up?

Switching genres, School of Rock.

[instrumental music]

In this scene, Jack Black discovers that his students

are really proficient at classical music.

You guys can really play.

Why didn't anyone tell me?

Now he wants to introduce them to rock music

and make a really fantastic band.

One, two, three, four.

[keyboard music]

Yeah.

Yes.

Classical musicians that go into rock,

I think have a really fun time letting loose.

[drummer banging]

Okay. I think when rock musicians

come over to classical music, sometimes they're shocked

by the rigidity of this style of music.

Nothing could be harder.

What I absolutely love about this scene,

and about this whole movie, is Jack Black's enthusiasm.

♪ Lawrence is good at piano ♪

♪ He shall be rocking in my show ♪

♪ Rocka-ka-ka ♪

He's just dying to share his passion with us.

Yes, oh.

All right, let's go.

[guitar music]

I think that is the number one criteria

for being a conductor, is to want and really insist on

sharing one's passion for the music.

Step off, everybody.

[All] Step off, step off.

It's really about capturing the groove for everything.

That's ultimately the conductor's main job,

is capturing that groove, so I love it.

All right.

Practice the, Orchestra Rehearsal.

[speaking in Italian]

[orchestral music]

It's clear that no one's playing an instrument.

[orchestral music]

Their bows are going all which ways, they're playing

at different times.

[speaking in Italian]

He's conducting on the wrong beat of the bar,

so there's a sense of chaos.

[speaking in Italian]

[orchestral music]

When the conductor is speaking while you're playing,

you can't hear what he's saying, or she is saying.

[speaking in Italian]

[orchestral music]

I've certainly never had musicians disrobe down

to the skin in rehearsals.

[speaking in Italian]

No maestro, [speaking in Italian].

He's trying to catch someone out,

and really reprimand them in front of the entire orchestra,

which I think is inappropriate under any circumstance.

[speaking in Italian]

[orchestra grumbling]

I think there's no turning back for this conductor

at this point.

[speaking in Italian]

The point of this film, is the individual characters,

and it's the idea of the individual revolting

against the establishment, which is represented

by the conductor.

This is a highly political film and it's about much more

than an orchestra rehearsal.

[orchestra grumbling]

Wrong note, Hannibal: Red Dragon.

[orchestral music]

When Hannibal goes to the concert hall and listens

to a performance of Mendelssohn's,

Midsummer Night's Dream.

[orchestral music]

And he notices a few problems in the orchestra.

[flute sounding]

People make mistakes and I think it's important

as the conductor to notice it, of course,

[orchestral music]

but how the conductor reacts can really

impact the entire piece from there on.

[orchestral music]

As soon as you start to kind of reprimand with your face,

all the musicians start to go down this path.

It can be like a domino effect, that everyone starts

playing wrong notes, or everyone starts having errors.

[orchestral music]

I think if I were a musician in the orchestra

and I looked out and I saw Hannibal sitting in the audience,

I would have a bad day and play wrong notes too.

[Narrator] Conclusion.

This was a wonderful experience to look at all

of these clips and analyze them.

It made me realize what a metaphor music is

and how much we connect with it on so many levels.

[gentle music]