Chad Goodman: The Art of Orchestral Conducting (#37)

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June 11, 2022 • 70 mins

In this episode, we explore the art of orchestral conducting with guest Chad Goodman. Chad is currently the conducting fellow of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, and he has also had fellowships at Festival Napa Valley and the Atlantic Music Festival. Since 2018, he has served as an assistant conductor to the San Francisco Symphony, and he also founded Elevate Ensemble in the Bay Area.

Chad is also a good friend of ours, and so we used this conversation as an opportunity to get a more personal take on how orchestral conducting works and how a conductor thinks about music and prepares for concerts. We talked about music interpretation, the role of a conductor, communication, and how to unify a large group. We also talked about the beauty of constantly learning and improving and how outside knowledge helps unlock the secrets within a musical score.

And lastly, aside from the more obvious sign language elements to orchestral conducting, we also tried to touch on abstract elements such as body language, eye contact, and energy. Some musical performances capture magical energy, and we wondered how a conductor thinks about that and how they try to cultivate that energy.

Timestamps:

[05:17] What exactly is orchestral conducting?
[10:22] At what size does an ensemble need a conductor?
[15:21] What makes conducting break down /not work?
[25:05] How is kodawari relevant to conducting and what is perfection?
[32:29] Why is music meaningful?
[38:06] How does outside knowledge affect the interpretation/conducting of music?
[48:52] On why learning never ends
[56:07] Communication and the sign language of conducting
[01:02:24] Bonus Questions/Speed Round

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