Do you ever wonder what the hell conductors are doing?

[greg]

i don't normally see conductors with their head buried in the score...... though i wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot more than i think, or if i'm missing something.

[Lady Chatterley]

Question: Do you ever wonder what the hell conductors are doing?

Answer: Certainly.

But even more frequently, the conductor himself doesn't know what the hell he's doing.
With his head buried in the score and "following" instead of "leading", most conductors only care if they look good from behind while doing their "thing".

After rehearsals Toscanini would complain to his wife Carlotta that he had a sore throat,but couldn't think of how it had happened.She always had the menthol handy.