
New study shows how birds work to sing together - dnetesn
https://phys.org/news/2017-12-birds.html
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techno_modus
It is highly difficult to synchronize an orchestra without a conductor, that
is, some centralization is needed (like CPU clock). Same problem with bands
but they tend to use some kind of rhythm generator. It seems that birds have
learned how to sing together asynchronously.

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tonmoy
Like when stadium full of football (soccer) fans start chanting the team name
and sometimes even songs without any centralized entity

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ams6110
It's one thing to have everyone chanting the same few words in unison. It's
another to have an orchestra/band where every musician has a separate part but
they all need to be played in sync.

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uf
Professional orchestras can play the standards without a conductor and
effectively often do in those cases where the conductor is borderline
incompetent. I've sung Beethoven 9 for example. The "conductor" (one of the
several hundred assistants of Karajan...) bought a good orchestra from prague.
He did the whole piece in ones. Nobody watched him. The orchestra members know
this piece well and played without him.

Often you'll find conductors where you can't read anything: "Now where's the
1? Well, last bar he did it with his wrist, now he's doing it with the tip of
the stick, o wait,now he's swimming (unclear speed) again. Ok, now he's
changing his frame of conducting (the area in which a conductor does his
movement). Wait, what? Now he's giving the one behind his back. How am I
supposed to ... Screw him. I'll just listen to the music and start a little
early (you hear the orchestra with delay, as you often only get the reflection
from the audience's walls).

Edit: We use the rehearsals to get to know a new conductor and to decide when
to actively not look at him and get our marks from someplace else. Often
you'll get so confused that it's better to "just do it, it'll be ok."

Also I have seen musicians in the orchestra conducting their colleagues in
difficult parts where the "masterchief" wasn't any good. We do the same on
stage in those cases.

