Shadowing Practice: Class Notes: What Does a Conductor Do? - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hello and welcome to NPR's Class Notes.

I'm Alison Young.

Have you ever wondered what a musical conductor actually does?

Well, I certainly have.

And today, that's exactly what we're going to look at.

Bye.

- Thank you.

Thank you.

This person is called the conductor.

The conductor is the person who keeps all the musicians of the orchestra and their different instruments together and on track.

But a conductor does much more than that.

What do the arm waving and all those other gestures mean?

You might even wonder why a conductor is needed in the first place.

If the musicians in an orchestra know the music in front of them and are following the score,

Can't they just perform on their own?

Today we're going to meet a conductor and learn what she does.

Her name is Sarah Hicks, and she's led some of the best professional and student orchestras in the world.

She'll help us understand what's behind a conductor's leadership

and how the back and forth she has with the musicians on stage creates great music.

Hi everyone and welcome.

I'm Sarah Hicks and when I'm conducting an orchestra there are

so many things that I have to know and feel all at the same time.

First and foremost, I have to know the music inside and out what the notes are, how fast or slow they are, how soft or loud they are,

and how they all add up together to create phrases and melodies.

I also need to know the instruments the musicians are playing, what they sound like by themselves, what they sound like together, and what the effect is on me and the audience.

In an orchestra, there are four families of instruments.

the woodwinds, the brass, the percussion, and the strings.

And since they're not all playing together at the same time, I need to know how to cue instruments to bring them in.

Also important to know is the rhythm of the music, the time signature, Is it in 2 -2?

Is it in 3 -4?

Is it in 4 -4?

My gestures tell the musicians what to do.

And finally, since musicians are spread across the stage, I need to know how to get their attention all at the same time so we can start together.

And when the music is ending, how to stop together.

Let's talk about time signature here.

So that music you just heard was by Engelbert Humperdinck from his opera Hansel and Gretel.

It was in 4 /4.

So let me do it again and I want you to watch my hands.

One.

Two three, four, one, Two.

3. Four.

You want to try it all together?

Yeah!

So take your right hand.

I'll take my left hand.

We're going to start up here.

are gonna go Down, to the left, to the right, A.

Down?

Across, across, across.

Oh!

One two, three, Four, and that's your four, four pattern.

Let's try one more beat pattern, this time not 4 /4, but 3 /4.

And this is music from the Concerto 4 Orchestra by the Polish composer Witold Ludoslawski.

Did you notice a different beat pattern?

So instead of four beats, there are three beats.

And it looks something like this.

One.

Two.

3 One to Three.

Want to try that?

Yeah!

Take your right hand, my left hand, down to the right, Ah.

Down.

Right?

Up.

One, two, three.

And that's your three four beat.

It's fun, isn't it?

Yeah.

But remember, as a conductor, everyone's eyes are always on you.

And the musicians are counting on you to keep the time and to keep them together, and also to help them express what the music's all about.

- So does anyone have any questions?

Yes, Gaby.

How does the conductor show the orchestra when to play loud or soft?

Two ways.

I can make them play loud by making my gestures bigger.

and soft by making my gestures smaller.

Or I can raise my arm, or lower my arm.

Yes, Olivia.

How does the conductor show the orchestra how to play fast or slow?

Well, I show them with the speed of my beat.

I can start at one tempo, and then I can speed up my beat to make them faster.

or slow down my bead to make them slower, and they'll follow me.

Henry.

How do you let musicians know when to start playing?

I usually give them a cue.

sometimes with my hand, sometimes with my finger, and sometimes if I know they're going to be too loud, with my whole hand like this.

Sala!

Who's your favorite composer to conduct and why?

It changes every day.

Sometimes it's Mozart because I love his precision, sometimes it's Mahler because he's so emotional, and sometimes it's Leonard Bernstein because he's bubbly and boisterous.

Yes, Gaby.

What made you decide you wanted to be a conductor?

Well, I was a concert pianist when I was in my teenage years.

I hurt my hands and so couldn't play the piano, but my dad told me you can still hold a stick.

And so I started conducting when I was 17.

Thank you.

So now you know the conductor is not just some funny or unnecessary person waving their arms around.

100

They're actually the leader.

101

They guide the musicians to play together and make the best music they can.

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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Este vídeo tiene 101 frases y 893 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 6:23. El hablante mantiene un ritmo constante de unas 140 palabras por minuto, cómodo para el shadowing. El 85 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés; conviene repasar el resto antes de empezar.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

15 palabras del vídeo que vale la pena aprender, con su pronunciación y significado:

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
conductor sustantivo	/kənˈdʌktɚ/	director
musician sustantivo	/mjuˈzɪʃən/	músico, música
orchestra sustantivo	/ˈɔː.kɪs.tɹə/	orquesta, orquestra (disused)
instrument sustantivo	/ˈɪnstɹəmənt/	instrumento
gesture sustantivo	/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃɚ/	gesto, ademán
signature sustantivo	/ˈsɪɡ.nə.t͡ʃə/	firma, rúbrica
composer sustantivo	/kəmˈpoʊzəɹ/	compositor, compositora
finger sustantivo	/ˈfɪŋɡɚ/	dedo, alambres
string sustantivo	/stɹɪŋ/	cuerda, mecate ("cordel" or "cuerda")
piano sustantivo	/piˈænɪː/	piano
phrase sustantivo	/ˈfɹeɪ̯z/	frase
opera sustantivo	/ˈɒp.ə.ɹə/	ópera
unnecessary adjetivo	/ʌnˈnɛs.əˌsɛɹ.i/	innecesario, desnecesario (disused)
teenage adjetivo	/ˈtiːneɪd͡ʒ/	adolescente
brass sustantivo	/bɹæs/	cobres

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

Palabra	Pronunciación	Significado
add up verbo		adicionar
slow down verbo		desacelerar, decelerar
speed up verbo	/spiːdˈʌp/	acelerar, apurarse
start up verbo	/stɑɹˈtʌp/	encender, acender

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

Estructura	En el vídeo
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace	is called · is needed · are spread
Superlativos the -est / the most … — lo más alto o lo más bajo de un grupo	the best
Verbo + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — verbos seguidos de la forma en -ing	start playing · started conducting
Present continuous am/is/are + -ing — algo que ocurre ahora o en estos días	are following · I'm conducting · are playing

Pronunciación a tener en cuenta

El hablante usa 16 contracciones y formas reducidas, como I'm, they're, we're. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.

Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: musician /mjuˈzɪʃən/, precision /pɹɪˈsɪʒ.ən/, percussion /pɚˈkʌʃən/

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como conductor, musician, orchestra.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →

Shadowing Practice: Class Notes: What Does a Conductor Do? - Learn English Speaking with Video

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