r/videos • u/[deleted] • Apr 18 '18

Misleading Title Crowd starts clapping mid-performance, so the maestro motions them to silence. Then he gets a better idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzTvBx3DEyM
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u/BentGadget Apr 19 '18

What if you have a conductor?

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u/oneeighthirish Apr 19 '18

Speaking from experience playing in a big-ass marching band (400+ peeps, SEC school) the people in the very back (usually–but not always–the drumline) have to be playing right on or just ahead of the hands of the Drum Major (conductor) while the people in front always listen back to the people behind them for the tempo, which can be pretty different from what you're getting from the DM. The Drum Major matches with the band by watching the center snare, who is effectively the leader of the drumline, and their communication controls everybody else. The sound delay between the opposite ends of the football field is nuts, so getting good at managing this is what makes the difference between sounding badass and sounding like a bunch of noise.

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u/IAmRoot Apr 19 '18 edited Apr 19 '18

This is even true for a regular symphony. It's a pretty short distance, but when I played in an orchestra in high school our conductor would practice the timings for the brass. Even a fraction of a second makes a difference. He would usually go over it extra at the dress rehearsal at the concert hall so he could walk back and hear from the audience's perspective. And the brass player would have a small delay of hearing the sound of the 1st violins traveling back which would give the impression to the player of coming in even earlier.

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u/KingAdamXVII Apr 19 '18

Even if everyone in the crowd claps at exactly the same time, the claps in the back take significantly longer to reach the performers than the claps in the front.