What exactly is the purpose of the conductor of a band or orchestra?

They direct a large group of musicians to perform in unison with each other. He/She keeps the rhythm and gives cues to passages. Otherwise, it would be pretty much chaos.

The Band or Orchestra is a large group of individuals. It is the conductors job to control them all. Much may come in rehearsal. The conductor chooses and through conducting technique the tempo, dynamics, style, etc.

It is sometimes said that the Band or orchestra is a large instrument and the conductor is the person playing the instrument

The tasks may appear simple, but the conductor must have a thorough knowledge of all the instruments, the individual players strengths and weaknesses.

Starting and stopping a band or orchestra is beyond the understanding of many.

It is a disservice to the conductor not to mention his value to the performance of the piece long before the actual concert.

If you don't know where you are going, any direction will get you there. Can you imagine the chaos that would ensue if every member of a symphony orchestra were to go off in a different direction interpretation wise. It would be a disharmonius cacaphony approaching rap without words. It is the conducter who forges a cohesive interpretation of how the score is to be played during rehearsal.

It is the conductor who hears the cumulative result of sounds emanating from the orchestra during rehearsal and lets the individual instrumentalist know how his or her effort is affecting the end result.

It is the conductor who is charged with the responsibility of meshing all the sometimes gigantic egos of the artists into harmonius expression.

It is the conductor who lends his musical reputation to enhance the reputation of the orchestra that attracts prestige in both the orchestra and the audience.

In so many more ways than we never give credit to, the conductor brings more to the performance than the directing of tempo and the waving of arms. Interpretively, a conductor can, and sometimes does, make or break the creative reputation of an orchestra. He points the direction to go in and insures synchronicity in getting there with his direction.

To keep the rhythm stable, interpret the music well.

A lot of work is needed from the conductor actually. Because when he interprets the music, everyone in the orchestra have to follow him.

Expressions are very important to a conductor. A conductor is there to aid in bringing out the expressions of the music from the players.

Conductors also take note of the harmony.

signaling everything in the music that u should be playin

they signal the time signature and tempo (most important)

the style (watch their style of conducting, short jerky motions usually = short and separated tonguing and whatnot)

the wider the motion=higher dynamic and vice versa

note: the downbeat (beat one) is always the drastic downward motion bringin his/her hands 4rm above their heads

the signal crescendos, decrescendos, diminuendos, and all other things tempo and dynamic related (they often signal to certain sections or individuals to play out, so always watch the conductor)

note: u should learn to conduct yourself and how the different time signatures are conducted (start off w/ basic 4/4, 2/4, 6/8, 3/4, and cut time are conducted, some of those are condcted the same, dorry worry so much about the weird signatures like 7/8, and 9/16 thats usually not used)

your best bet is to watch more, and see how the band response to the conductors actions

note: jazz ensembles and rock bands, have to understand timing and dynamics w/o a conductor so you hafta pay more attention to the music (but some jazz directors notify when notes are to be played out or a certain way), but conductors are for the most part conduct only large bands.

Although there's no set rule on how to conduct, conducting is a means of communicating artistic directions to performers during a performance.

The beat of the music is typically indicated with the conductor's right hand, with or without a baton. If he wants to increate the speed, the movement of the hand is faster and that is how he controls it. The left may be used for cueing or the entrance of individual players or sections, and to aid indications of dynamics, phrasing, expression, and other elements.

his baton is waved in a certain way for each time signature the baton always goes down on the first beat

aswell as keeping in time the conductor helps to bring people in and remind the orchestra of the dymanic changes

well..they keep the band in time, they move their hands/baton in a special way, and if someone gets lost at some point they can look at the conductor to get back on track.

They are keeping a constant beat. The entire band can stay together when watching him/her, and also they must follow him for the parts of a piece where the tempo changes. My instructor would always change the tempo even if it wasn't written in the music just to make sure we were watching him.

Expression, timing, phrasing. It is quite a lot to do with interpretation.