{"id":2937,"date":"2012-03-30T09:52:33","date_gmt":"2012-03-30T16:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=2937"},"modified":"2012-04-02T10:47:20","modified_gmt":"2012-04-02T17:47:20","slug":"brian-jackson-%e2%80%9ca-conductor-is-really-like-a-glorified-traffic-cop-%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2012\/03\/30\/brian-jackson-%e2%80%9ca-conductor-is-really-like-a-glorified-traffic-cop-%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Jackson: \u201cA conductor is really like a glorified traffic cop.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Jackson has been conducting orchestras for over half a century. The British-Canadian conductor, organist, and pianist has conducted since he was a teenager in the 1950s. And when the Canadian College of Performing Arts teams up with the Victoria Symphony for their upcoming Broadway Spectacular, it will celebrate Jackson’s retirement.<\/p>\n

Born in Cornwall\u2014the southwestern-most point in England\u2014in 1943, Jackson arrived to a family devoid of musicians.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince there was no one musical in the family they didn\u2019t know what they were dealing with,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cGrowing up in Cornwall was pretty isolated. I suppose in Canada it would be like being born in Newfoundland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson was performing as a concert pianist by the age of six. By 12 he was performing as an organist, and in his teens he began conducting. This talent earned him a scholarship for Oxford in the 1960s, where he completed a master\u2019s degree in music in 1968 while working as a producer at the BBC. At a young age, Jackson had already accomplished so much, something he feels he took for granted.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Brian Jackson has been conducting for over 50 years (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI think I went to university too young,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019d won the scholarship when I was 16, and at 17 I was there. I was very lucky. It was an incredible experience but I was too young to appreciate it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since then, Jackson has conducted across North America and Europe. And during his extensive career, he’s come up with a unique perspective on his job.<\/p>\n

\u201cA conductor is really like a glorified traffic cop,\u201d he says. \u201cYou really only need to look at a junction. It\u2019s what I call traffic flow, controlling the traffic. It\u2019s all done at rehearsal, really, and at the performance I think you just let them go and play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dealing with the personalities of a big orchestra can be something of a challenge, depending on the style of approach a conductor chooses to take. Jackson says it can be very easy for conductors to become megalomaniacs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are two ways of leading an orchestra: the first is with a stick, which you hit them over the heads with,\u201d he says. \u201cI tend to lead with a carrot, so you are educating\u2014you bring it out of the person, you don\u2019t beat it out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jackson believes that the conductor is like a referee for the composer, advocating on their behalf to make sure that the music is heard the way the composer originally intended.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone has to be in charge,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you let everyone have a say in a 100-piece orchestra, you have total anarchy. But that doesn\u2019t mean that the conductor has to be a dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the challenges of conducting, Jackson has an obvious love for the career he has dedicated the better part of a century towards.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing will ever beat live performance,\u201d says Jackson. \u201cIt\u2019s more than just an aural experience, it\u2019s a visual thing, it\u2019s a collective energy level that comes off the stage and hits an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broadway Spectacular
\n8 pm Friday, March 30,\u00a08 pm Saturday, March 31,\u00a02 pm Sunday, April 1
\nRoyal Theatre, $33
\nvictoriasymphony.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brian Jackson has been conducting orchestras for over half a century. The British-Canadian conductor, organist, and pianist has conducted since he was a teenager in the 1950s. And when the Canadian College of Performing Arts teams up with the Victoria Symphony for their upcoming Broadway Spectacular, it will celebrate Jackson’s retirement. Born in Cornwall\u2014the southwestern-most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2937"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2943,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions\/2943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}