There is a lovely analogy that describes conducting as trying to balance a songbird in your hand. Grasp it too tightly and you'll crush it. Hold it too loosely and it will fly away.

Added to this is the fact that not only is every bird different, but even the same bird can vary from day to day. One orchestra might require a fair amount of control ('democracy is a bad thing', a Russian cellist once muttered to me rather ominously), another might need a greater degree of freedom. A laissez-faire method with one player could come across as confusing to someone else. And the right approach on Monday could be wrong on Tuesday. To always get the balance right requires either an instinctive gift or an extremely heightened sense of intuition. Probably both.

Perhaps the best way to create unity and freedom simultaneously is not to see the two as contradictory in the first place. Discipline does not need to be tyrannical and accuracy does not have to imply rigidity. Flexibility is not the same thing as compromise.

This applies to any form of group creativity. The greatest football managers for instance, are able to not only empower their players to express themselves as individuals but also to make them know exactly when to pass the ball to someone else. Good theatre directors enable actors to sound like they have the title role one moment and behave like one of the extras the next. My favourite orchestras, and conductors for that matter, see no contradiction between the ego and the team.

Ultimately it boils down to trust: a mutual trust in which the conductor appreciates that players can express themselves as individuals without necessarily becoming anarchists and orchestral musicians know in return that they can take on board a conductor's vision without having to sacrifice their own. Once it is accepted that being open to other ideas does not imply being devoid of them yourself, everyone can get on with the business and pleasure of making music.

Music making cannot be a free for all. In that sense the Russian cellist is not wrong. With a large orchestra there has to be a level of autocracy. But if that leadership can be subtle enough to appear invisible, then the music will sound both free and purposeful at the same time. A meandering river does not lack direction. I don't think it is a paradox to say that for many of us, the more secure we feel, the easier it is for us to be free. I imagine prison inmates view it somewhat differently but I'm hoping innocent professional musicians do not feel quite so entrapped. In most cases, the presence of some kind of safety net actually encourages a greater willingness to take more risks. If the bird feels that the hand is there to support it and give it a stable framework within which it can express itself freely, it will sing to its heart's content.

www.markwigglesworth.com