It’s like a semaphore type thing, the position of the baton shows where the beat is, and the conductor can signal other things as well like “emphasis here” or “quieter” with body language. An orchestra where everyone does their own thing wouldn’t sound very good.
It’s hard to get up and bow with certain instruments, there might not be space, and you couldn’t see past the first row very well anyway. I always assumed the bow by the conductor was on behalf of everyone.
They do actually! For a 4/4 beat (4 beats per measure and the quarter note gets the beat, meaning 4 quarter notes per measure), they will move the baton straight down for 1 (the “down beat”), left (usually) for 2, right for 3, and up for 4. Different time signatures will have more or less movements, such as 3/4 time (3 beats per measure) will be down (1), left (2), and up (3).
Further, there are other movements like a wide slash left to right is a stop motion for everyone to instantly stop playing.
how does it work? do specific baton flicks mean specific things? is he just shaking it around to the beat?
They do actually! For a 4/4 beat (4 beats per measure and the quarter note gets the beat, meaning 4 quarter notes per measure), they will move the baton straight down for 1 (the “down beat”), left (usually) for 2, right for 3, and up for 4. Different time signatures will have more or less movements, such as 3/4 time (3 beats per measure) will be down (1), left (2), and up (3).
Further, there are other movements like a wide slash left to right is a stop motion for everyone to instantly stop playing.
Yup, there’s a specific pattern for each time signature, and if you get really lost you can tell where in the measure you should be by them.
The patterns for cursed time signatures are equally cursed.