Be the Music

Be the Music

When I was 12 years old I was in a play with an actor named Peter Gerety who gave me some excellent advice. In order to act, you need to become the character completely. My friend Paul Kile, Edina High School Bands, had similar advice about conducting when he said, “Be the music.” When our entire body becomes the music, practiced gestures  become subconscious processes. The inner music is reflected in the outer gestures. The brain does not think in words, only sounds and silences. When a conductor becomes the music, performers receive both information about emotional contour and clarity simultaneously through the visual cues.