The conductor is the leader of the orchestra. Each musician in the orchestra is familiar with his or her part of a piece, but a conductor must be familiar with the entire musical selection. He or she becomes a sort of musical traffic director, telling each instrument how fast they should play, when they should enter the musical highway and when to stop. Of course, a conductor cannot use spoken words to communicate with the musicians over the music. Instead, the conductor communicates with the orchestra by waving a baton and using special hand and arm movements. The musicians understand these movements and adjust their playing based on the conductor‘s silent instructions.
