Anyone planning on watching this programme? It looks as though it might be quite interesting...

I'm going to be watching - *if* I can remember not to go out as I often do on Tuesdays! I saw the trailers for it, but I don't exactly know what the idea of it is....

I probably ought to watch it before criticising, but having read in the paper that some of the 'contestants' can't read music, I have to wonder what aspects of 'conducting' will actually be tested. Really, the waving-the-arms-about-at-the-performance bit is the least demanding, especially if you're standing in front of a group of top-notch professionals. It's all in the preparation & rehearsal, forging an interpretation, putting all your score-reading & aural skills to the test: that's where the real skills of conducting lie. And I can't see how a programme that, at most, can have lasted only a few weeks in its making, can possibly advance all the necessary skills enough if they're starting from the point of not being able to read music.

Having said that, it might well still be fun to watch!

I tend to agree.
I may give it a go but I'm not all that hopefull!
I hope it proves me wrong!

I shall be watching it! I think it looks really interesting and it'll be fun to watch!

Ooh! Another music-related programme! I shall have an investigate on the internet.... is it about conducting? Excellent - something I want to know more about .

However, there are also some who know a thing or two about Classical Music like Alex James who presents a radio show on the A to Z of Classical Music!

I'll be watching!

[/quote]

However, there are also some who know a thing or two about Classical Music like Alex James who presents a radio show on the A to Z of Classical Music!

I'll be watching!
[/quote]

That only means he knows how to read a script... and in fact he doesn't even manage to do that very well.

Looking at the BBC2 preview on the web, Katie Derham might be a bit of a ringer and Sue Perkins always surprises.

I used to be a figure skater, and Dancing On Ice makes me cringe, some of those competitors are so awful! It's blatantly obvious to me that they are learners, even though to a non-skater it looks very impressive. I'm sure Maestro will be similar, but I'm hoping there might be some interesting nuggets of information we can glean from this programme.

Incidentally, I'm aware I've already missed the first one Come on guys, make me envious! Must watch next week.

x

It's repeated on Thursday on BBC Four at 10:00pm, this is the showing I'll be seeing.

We have just watched it -very entertaining! We have series linked it to watch when we come back from holiday.

I've just seen it too, was fantastic! Loved sitting on my sofa crtiquing all the performances....

Would tell you what I thought but I don't want to give too much away! Especially as I know some of you will be watching the repeat on Thursday night!

Thoroughly enjoy it so far.

I had to watch the last episode of Bonekickers, so will try and watch the repeat.

I too was watching Bonekickers so missed it...hear it was rather cringe worthy though? Might watch it on iplayer...

I thought it was really good. Some of it was hilarious, I guess that could be seen as cringe-worthy

Best comedy programme for ages !

I can't say that I found it comical apart from a couple of moments when Peter Snow was having a go. It was an interesting challenge for the participants and they all had a serious try at a very difficult task. Some were more successful than others of course and not necessary the ones with musical backgrounds. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next installment. I think that anything which informs the general viewing public about classical music is to be welcomed.

Goldie! Goldie!.....

Snow gets the most marks for comedy.

Cheers,

Matt.

Excellent news! Thanks for the tip Barry, although I've got a feeling I'm going to have to record it as might not be in on Thursday either
x

He's a character isn't he? And the orchestra did respond to him better than anyone despite his "technique"! I like him I hope Katy Derham is off soon though..she's getting on my nerves already!

If you can handle bonekickers, then I don't think anything in Maestro is going to seem too cringe worthy in comparison!

I loved it, thought it was a really charming programme, especially because it was so unshowy compared to x factor etc but still captured the excitement and glamour of live music. Pity it's on a tuesday not saturday like all the others but I guess the above would be compromised if it were.

I admired the orchestra for being able to go along with whatever the conductors did, however bad the result, when it must be so tempting just to go into autopilot and play it as they know it should be played.

I thought this could turn out as "how to humilate a bunch of celebs" so was minded not to watch it. I'm so glad that I did. Watching the lessons reminded me of conducting lessons as a student, and what it was to play in the "conductor's orchestra" where you had to follow exactly what your peers asked you to do.

I was glad that the BBC COncert Orchestra played all the mistakes! They are so used to working with a variety of conductors that they need to be that flexible.

Snow was comical, and it was right to vote him off.

Jane Asher and Goldie both excited me, Asher's eyes! Sue Perkins well, she was getting control of that Orchestra by the end.

Keep Katie in, as she's being coached by Matthew Roe.

So what if Goldie has never learnt how to read music, he has an inate sense of rhythm and understands it's structure extrememly well.

I really really enjoyed this .... and I actually made myself quite ill laughing so hard at Peter Snow's effort ... I wasn't expecting to find a reality programme based around music funny, but between him and Bradley Walsh I laughed a lot more than I do at regular "comedy" on the tv.

What surprised me was the level of musicality on show eg Sue Perkins Grade 8 piano, etc, by and large a pretty talented bunch.

I am hooked already.

Sadly I like watching reality T.V ( yes I know!)
But we live in Cyprus on an R.A.F base and don't get a lot of programmes, so I'm not sure if it will be broadcast over BFBS
I would watch if I was at home in England though.

Have to say, I think Bonekickers is far more cringe worthy than Maestro, I know it was weaving the tale, but Boudicca one week, Joan of arc the next and ending with excaliber. Very realistic

Anyway I really enjoyed Maestro last night, one of the things that fascinates me about teaching are the different ways that people learn and unlike X-Factor where the ###### ones think they're fantastic, all the celebs know they have a huge learning curve and I found it very interesting how they reacted, especially when Katie whatshername was shouting at the orchestra to speed them up.

I like Alex best, but I really think he'll be out next week.

Haha so did I!!! But I could hardly watch the end performance he did because I was cringing so much !!! I did rather like the show though... shall be watching it next week!!!

Even before I saw him conduct I wanted Goldie to do well. I'm a fan of his music, and I think he has an advantage coming from a drum'n'bass background. He is used to conducting the crowd at gigs and he must have had memorise some long tracks. (The full version of Inner City Life is about 20 minutes long).

The only downside with him is that he probably didn't have to work so hard as the others at the beginning. I hope he developed his talent throughout the course of the show.

It's not reality TV is it? It's a highly edited piece of comical TV theatre. It should be called Game For A Laugh

That's not very realistic is it? Surely you should have at least three quarters not paying any attention at all, wind players moaning that they can't follow the beat to count their next 52 bars rest, altos muttering all the way through, half the basses half a bar behind, and the orchestra leader following the organist who can't see the conductor even if he wanted to.

That's enough to make a horse laugh! Thank you! I am unwell at present and the chuckle did me good.

I thoroughly enjoyed last night's programme, even though I wished we could have heard more of the pieces. But it certainly made a refreshing change from all the formulaic padding there is on the 'Strictly' - type programmes and I think it did convey how complex conducting is (not that I know very much about it). I hope the judges remain respectful of the contestants.

Loved it!! Soo funny and entertaining and gained a lot of insight too into conducting, it's a bit of an education in itself!

Loved Goldie and Sue Perkins, Katie Derham is rather irritating and Bradley Walsh has.. potential I think. Jane Asher was also good.

I could have cried watching Alex James have his first go at conducting Carmen (I think). I really enjoyed the programme, and although they won't all be amazing conductors by the end of it you've got to admire them for trying. They're already successful at what they do, so they must be brave to try something completely different. Or well-paid, of course...

Just watched the first programme on BBC iPlayer. Great stuff, really entertaining as well as informative. SO much better than the celebs learning to play an instrument series that they did last year or whenever. I felt they really showed the nuts and bolts of how to teach/learn conducting and I learnt quite a bit from it. Goldie was great - not self-conscious at all about really getting into the music. He understood the structure and that seemed to help him enormously. Despite not reading music 'properly' he managed to make sense of the score. His mentor seems excellent and allows him to interpret the process in his own way. Loving it.

As I'm always being told off for being "competitive Mum" (by hubby as well as the kids!) I had a really good laugh at how competitive Goldie's mentor (Ivor someone?) was!!

I thought it was well edited to show the different mentors in the audience smiling, wincing, and generally willing everyone to do well, not just their own mentorees (is that a word?!).

When I told the kids about the show beforehand, they didn't sound too interested, but having watched the first episode last night, they can't wait for the next episode! They thought the best bit was when Bradley Walsh got his just deserts from Jane Asher walloping the drum when he was having a snooze 10 feet away

I missed the first half hour last night, but I caught the rest of it.

The slightly disturbing thing is that I've been subjected to worse conducting than most of them.

Watched the recording I made last night - very promising first programme, look forward to the rest.

I don't really watch much TV, but the presence of a certain actor drew me to this programme. Looks like it should be very interesting.

Tonight 9pm for anyone who's forgotten!

I had, so thank you!

Another good programme.

On balance, I think, despite his best efforts, David Soul was the right person to leave the show at this stage. I couldn't really follow what he was doing...

Yes, another good show, though I thought Jan Asher was the worst this evening.

Loved Goldie again and Sue Perkins too.

*Still hope Katie Derham is off soon!*

My favourite so far is Sue P, but it will be interesting to see how she does with different styles. Initially I thought Bradley W should be voted off next but, on reflection, I suppose it's easier for an instrumentalist to respond to a conductor who isn't really doing anything much - just beating in time - than to one who is doing something, but doing it confusingly. Nevertheless, I take my hat off to them all, especially the ones who have taken some rather stern criticism. I can't wait for next week.

I thought Goldie was lovely, though I'm glad he was told to sort out his hands. And I agree that Jane Asher was performing and not conducting. My sons will be rooting for Alex James and Goldie, so I'm for Sue Perkins.

I'm so glad that they don't do the long drawn-out bit (and the person voted out this week is -- go and make a cup of tea, find you have no milk, go to the shop and buy some, come back -- David Soul). If anything, Clive Andrews positively chivvies them along, which is refreshing.

I hope Bradley Walsh doesn't mug too much, but on the other hand he did make me smile, and he did seem to be enjoying it.

It wasn't quite as much fun as last week, but still enjoyable.

I thought David Soul was bad, but he did have the most difficult piece to conduct. I'm not sure he'd have lost if he'd had "Ride of the Valkerie". Also, half the orchestra didn't even play for him since the Barber is for strings, which seemed a bit unfair. Bradley Walsh reminded me of Eric Morecambe, with his fixed grin, perhaps the orchestra went for entertainment value.

The guy from Blur was much better than last week, and deserved his marks, but I thought the judges marking was odd for Jane Asher and Sue Perkins. Jane Asher was all over the place in the Bernstein, I think the orchestra just got on with playing the piece and pretty much ignored her, so I was surprised at the judges marking her relatively highly. And Sue Perkins was good, but not that much better than Goldie - the Simpson's theme was too laid back, it should have been quicker and more anarchic. I thought Goldie did a good job, though his hand movements were a bit annoying. Katie Derham was just boring, the Ride of the Valkerie can basically play itself, and it did.

I reckon the final will be Goldie vs Sue Perkins on this showing.

Chris

I watched for the first time tonight and was surprised to find it quite interesting! It's a good idea to choose well known classical pieces, but I'd have liked a bit more information about what makes a good conductor. I may well watch again next week.

I'm not surprised that David Soul got the boot from the orchestra. At least Bradley Walsh had a crisp beat, although I would have loved to wipe that stupid smirk off his face - he didn't seem capable of taking it at all seriously.

I've no idea what Jane Asher thought she was doing with the baton - it reminded me of a a knitting needle and I was terrified she was going to take someone's eye out with it. Also, her dancing really put me off - it reminded me of my husband clowning around when he conducts to the radio!

Goldie got a nice result from the orchestra, but his hands were very annoying. I think I liked Sue Perkins' efforts best, much to my surprise.

I quite liked Bradley Walsh. I could have followed him if I had been playing. I thought that Jane Asher was stiff and unmusical this time. I think that Goldie did a very good job again but I think that Sue Perkins will be the eventual winner and go on to conduct at the last night of the Proms.
One of my OAP choir members has been watching it too and asked me a couple of days ago if I had ever done any conducting!!! I think that she meant orchestral stuff though rather than her choir!

Shame it is such a hurry to get the marks and judges' comments. From what I saw last week I suspect DS is one of those 'untrainable' people. Bradley will surely be the next to go, if only because he is soooo irritating. Sue P was worried about 'showboating' if she got nervous and that seems to be exactly what he is doing. Jane Asher is (a) stiff.

Goldie to win!!

I liked Sue, glad she got by far the highest score - she obviously gets into it, but there's still a clear beat.
I didn't see it last week, but it sounds as though they've improved radically! You can really tell that some have a sense of rhythm, and some just haven't....

I find Clive Anderson irritating at the best of times - I really wish he wouldn't chivvy the judges on the comments, as they can be really diverse, and sometimes one or two of them don't get to talk at all, so the results seem disconnected.

Glad the orchestra get to vote though! I agree that someone beating in time is a lot more useful than someone with loads of feeling and no clear beat, but on the night you'd just have to try and play together - if the conductor gets lost the orchestra has to keep going...

Anyway - good fun. Worth watching.

Anyone else conducting along?

Darn it I forgot to watch, but there's a repeat on BBC4 later in the week.