“Just as actors and dancers are experts in communicating with their anatomy, orchestra conductors also extensively train in nonverbal communication, as their primary role is to beat time and use their bodies to direct emotional intensity and nuance during a performance,” writes Jeremy Reynolds in Sunday’s (11/10) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “When Manfred Honeck, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, sets his feet wide, furrows his brow and flings his arms out, this essentially boils down to ‘play louder.’ … His smoother, smaller movements generally imply softer melodies and phrases…. In Pittsburgh, Lauren Tan, 28 … a certified body language expert … reviewed footage of several conductors…. When Mr. Honeck began conducting, she zeroed in on moments when he leaned toward the musicians. ‘I tell businessmen … it’s a good way to indicate agreement and say, “Hey, I’m on your side.” ’ … Ms. Tan noted that [Leonard Bernstein] consistently nodded to his musicians, which … builds conscious and subconscious rapport…. Mr. Honeck has spent years training his hands to move in certain ways to cue musicians for specific kinds of sounds…. ‘I train with my hands not because of technical things but because I want to have a special sound,’ he said.”
Posted November 12, 2019
