What is the purpose of a musical conductor?

conductors are just up there to wave their arms and look pretty... jk

conductors do help the band keep time, but they can do this thing my director does called stretching and pulling. within a phrase he slows some notes down and speeds them up... it sounds really cool. they also help you start and stop together in case you get lost. conductors can also point out mistakes that you make that you don't even realize and they help you grow as a musician.

Conductors are very very very talented. In a room full of musicians without a leader... there would be a lot of fights going on because someone may interpret the music differently. Conductors can also hear all the mistakes and, during rehearsals, fix the intonation here and there. They also set the STYLE the music is played. The musicians follow the way the conductor interprets the music. Keeping beat is very difficult. Try tapping your foot for downbeats and clap your hands for upbeats. You may think you're doing it right but you actually may be rushing or dragging. Plus, that's what metronomes are used for. Also, I'm not sure if you know, but all thos pros and good private teachers all recomend their students to practice with a metronome for the sake of keeping the beat and muscle memory. If all those good musicians can keep time then what's the use of them practicing with a metronome? Also remember that concert music is not exactly with the metronome. There are parts where you dye away... where you accelerate. Remember that you have to put emotion to the music and emotion isn't with the metronome. The metronome is just for practicing purposes. You need human to human interaction. There are a lot of other reasons and I really want to add detail to the reasons I stated already but I'm lazy. Conductors are very talented... the have REAL talent... and they themselves are wonderful musicians that also have REAL talent. They are not for show.

I would challenge you to learn how to conduct and then say they have no real talent.....

Try keeping one beat with your left hand, a different beat with your right hand and another with your head and see how easy it is :)

Conductors do more than keep the beat..... the help the orchestra start in unison and stop in unison.... they not only tell the orchestra which parts should be played loud and triumphantly and which parts softly but they do that for EACH individual instrumental group. They tell everyone when to speed up and when to slow down. They have incredibly well trained ears and are superhuman mixing desks with legs.

In short.... an orchestra without a conductor is about as much use as a car with no steering wheel.