As soon as school started, the 5th grade had its first hour of music with a conductor.
“When you think of a conductor, you immediately think of his baton! But he doesn’t always need one!” says Ayoub after his meeting with Alexandre Bloch, conductor and musical director of the Orchestre National de Lille.
In fact, the baton only serves to extend the arm so that the musicians, who are far away, can see the conductor clearly.

This is what Alexandre Bloch explained to us in music class.

Meet Alexandre BLOCH:

Profession: Conductor, and he says he’s an artist who wants to share emotions with the public.
Instrument learned in youth: the cello
Conductors’ competitions: he has taken part in several, including the London competition, which he won in 2012.
His first success: immediately after the London competition, he had to replace a conductor in Amsterdam at the last minute.
To do this, he worked on the score all night, even on the plane, before the concert.
That’s what made him famous!
Current position: Music Director of the Orchestre national de Lille.
He was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker.

Over the course of an hour, we learned a lot about music and the job of a conductor.

We learned new concepts such as tempo, rhythm, loudness, desk, conductor and the differences between orchestras in England, Germany and France.

And Mr. Bloch took us through the important points of his job.
The role of the conductor :
– He decides how a musical work is to be played
– He communicates with the musicians through words (in rehearsals) and gestures (always!).
– He harmonizes the musicians’ playing

Some of the conductor’s skills :
– Knowing how to appeal to all musicians
– Have learned a musical instrument
– Knowing the instruments
– Good physical condition
– Knowing how to desynchronize arm and hand gestures
– Time management, especially in rehearsals (he always has a big clock on his phone!)
We really enjoyed the hand desynchronization training exercises.
It’s not easy, but it’s a lot of fun!
Thank you, Mr Bloch, for coming to see us!

Article written by Laurene and Anouk, class 5A