Air Guitar. In tuxedo??

Comparison:

The conductor is a con artist. Or: The conductor is God. Musicians frequently encounter both of these extreme views of music’s most mysterious profession. It’s not surprising that conductors elicit suspicion as well as adulation. The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.

Composer and conductor Matthew Aucoin writes in The Atlantic about the history, culture, responsibilities, and expectations of orchestra conductors. Our main comparison notation captures his use of the con artist, and God--and even the image of a “tuxedoed air guitar“ (bet you didn't anticipate coming upon that comparison this week). Yet, Aucoin also manages to weave in orchestral music (river current), orchestras and players within (airplane, mighty steamboats, freight trains, family, geyser), as well as other comparisons about the conductor (pilot, helpful sheepdog, event planner, craftsperson, woodworker, shipbuilder, listener-in-chief, dictator). Many moving comparison pieces needed to address the complex relationships between the conductor, members of an orchestra, and their combined efforts to create musical dynamics.

Context:

“The conductor is a con artist. Or: The conductor is God. Musicians frequently encounter both of these extreme views of music’s most mysterious profession. It’s not surprising that conductors elicit suspicion as well as adulation. The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.

. . .

Conducting is different. I would bet that practically everyone who’s seen a conductor leading an orchestra has had the fleeting thought Come on, anyone could do that. They’re just waving their arms! Aren’t they? And if not, then what exactly are they doing? Plenty of people—plenty of musicians, even—mistrust the abracadabra mysticism that so frequently surrounds practitioners of this elusive and slightly dubious art.

At the other end of the spectrum is the equally inaccurate notion that the conductor is an infallible being with almost supernatural powers. People who hold this view tend to assume that the orchestra would be utterly helpless without the sage guidance of the baton-wielder; they forget that any good ensemble is made up of dozens of experienced, intelligent musicians, each of whom is capable of autonomous musical thought.“

Citation:

Aucoin, Matthew. “The Mysterious Art of Conducting.“ The Atlantic, 09 Aug. 2026. Web.

(Graphic image design by Lee Aigue base image courtesy of Google Flow, Aug. 2026.)