What Does a Music Director Actually Do?
It's the second act of Chicago. Roxie is halfway through a monologue that's supposed to land right on beat three of the next number. Except tonight, she's talking faster than she did in rehearsal. If I bring the band in where the score says to, we'll crash into her last line. So I hold. I watch her mouth. The moment she rounds the corner on her final word, I give the downbeat and the band lands exactly where it needs to.
Nobody in the audience noticed. That's the job.
I just finished music directing a production of Chicago for the Jersey City Arts Academy. Three shows, six quasi-rehearsals (including tech week), four musicians, no bass player, and a Broadway score that doesn't pull punches. It was one of the most demanding and rewarding gigs I've had in a while.
One of the more common questions I get from friends and family: "So... what exactly do you do?"
The honest answer changes depending on the gig. Some days I'm a conductor, some days I'm a therapist for musicians, and some days I'm troubleshooting mic and speaker configuration issues during tech week because nobody else knows why the left side of the house sounds thin. But at its core, a music director owns everything the audience hears. Every note, every cue, every transition. If the band sounds great and the singers come in at the right time, the MD did their job. If something goes sideways, it's the MD's problem to fix in real time.
Here's what that looked like for this show.
The Homework
The work begins weeks before anyone sets foot on stage. For Chicago, I received a PC score (the conductor's master score) and two keyboard books, plus supplementary material. My job was to internalize all of it, figure out what our four-piece band could realistically cover from a score written for a much larger ensemble, and make decisions about what to prioritize.
No bass player? That means I'm covering bass lines with my left hand while playing keys with my right. String parts, accordion, banjo. If it's not a reed or brass instrument, it's coming from my piano. That's not in the job description. You kinda just figure it out.
Part of the homework is also deciding what not to play. A score might call for a 16-bar vamp under a scene transition, but if you know from the blocking that the cast moves quickly on a short stage, you're cutting that vamp in half. The bows had a repeat sign in the score, but with our stage size the cast was lined up before the second pass even started. So I cut it. The audience gets a tighter show and never knows anything was changed.
Reading the Room
Rehearsals are where you learn the cast. Every singer has different tendencies. Some rush, some drag, some need a louder cue to find their entrance. A good MD catalogs all of this and adjusts in real time.
You're also the bridge between the director's vision and the band's execution. The director says "I want this moment to feel suspended." Your job is to translate that into something the musicians can play. Maybe a fermata here, a softer dynamic there, a slightly slower tempo leading into the next section.
What people don't realize is how much of this job is managing people, not just music. You've got a singer who's convinced they're hitting the right note (they're not). You've got a musician who plays beautifully but struggles with tempo changes. You've got a director who wants something that doesn't quite work musically, and your job is to find the version that gives them what they're after without breaking the song. None of that is on the page. You learn it by reading the room.
For Chicago, I also had to decide who starts certain numbers. One of our songs flowed better when the drummer kicked it off instead of waiting for my count-in. It's a small thing, but small things are what separate a band that sounds rehearsed from one that sounds like they're actually performing together.
And then there's tech week, where you find out what the room actually sounds like with a full cast and an audience's worth of empty chairs absorbing sound differently than you expected. While I was at it, I ended up helping reprogram wireless mic routing, configure the speakers, and troubleshoot placement issues because I knew the equipment. That's not technically the MD's responsibility, but when you're the person who understands both the music and the signal chain, you just handle it.
Show Night
This is where it all comes together. You're conducting, playing piano, watching singers for breath cues, listening to the band for balance, and following the stage for blocking changes that affect musical timing. All simultaneously.
Real-time decisions happen constantly. A singer rushes through a spoken line, so you shorten the vamp underneath to meet them where they are instead of where the score says they should be. A number is landing heavier than it did in rehearsal because the cast has more energy with a live audience, so you pull the band back a hair to let the vocals cut through. None of this is planned. You just feel it and respond.
When it works, there's nothing like it. You can feel the room lock in. The band breathes with the singers, the singers trust the band, and the audience just experiences the story without ever thinking about the machinery underneath.
That's what I chase every time I sit down at the keys. I've had the privilege of doing it for musicals, cabarets with 20+ rotating singers, worship services every Sunday, and private events where the band and I are learning the couple's first dance song the week before the wedding.
"Isaac is not only the consummate professional but he is a really nice person. His impeccable skill and ability to work with many different personalities with ease makes him a rare find." — Nicole Oliver, Director, Chicago (JCAA)
If you've got a project that needs musical direction, I'd love to talk.
Isaac Ezekiel is a pianist, music director, and educator serving the NYC/NJ metro area.
