Hi Friends!
Today I'd like to talk about my "uniform" when I conduct.
Most of the time when I rehearse, you will find me in a black shirt. There are 2 main reasons.
1. I can't coordinate clothes to save my life, and black goes with everything. Also, since I make hundreds of micro decisions a day as a conductor and as a mom, I don't have enough mental real estate to worry about what I wear.
2. When I sweat, you can't see the sweat stains as much. As a young flutist, I've witnessed conductors' pastel-colored shirts become darker and white-linen almost turning transparent as the rehearsals progressed. (ew)
However, there are at least 2 challenges for mostly owning black clothes:
1. I can't find a specific piece of clothing because they are all the same color.
2. My blonde dog Tomo:
Her hair goes with me EVERYWHERE! I recommend investing in some lint rollers or owning a black dog/cat/chinchilla/etc. I have simply given up. I decided that her hair is my favorite accessory.
Some suggestions I offer young conductors regarding outfits on the podium:
1. Avoid stripes- the baton will disappear (and reappear), and it's visually confusing.
2. Avoid outfits that distracts from conducting. For example, if your shoulder straps keep falling, you will spend a lot of time and energy adjusting while conducting.
3. Avoid outfits that distract the musicians from your conducting and music. In a conducting class once, a fellow student was wearing a shirt with Mr. Hankey from South Park. My friend and I couldn't stop giggling.
That's it for today!
Best,
Kayoko
