Conductors of orchestras are perhaps the only people with more jokes told about them than the viola players.  My personal favorite is:

What is the difference between an orchestra and a deer?

A deer has the horns at the front and the ***hole in the back..

However, with all due respect, it is a very important position and not an easy one.

So what does it have to do with just playing?  And why am I posting about it under the "Learning to play" section?

Well, because it can actually help with learning to play.

First off, if you ever even are dreaming about playing in any sort of orchestra (or even some combos) you need to know enough about the moves to be able to follow the conductor.  If you like listening to and watching videos of symphony and etc, it is nice to know what the conductor is doing instead of just thinking of them as someone up there waving their arms around wildly.

But for actual learning, I had to learn the basic moves when I took music theory in college.  I thought it was silly, so I asked the prof why it was required.  He told me you can learn a piece considerably faster if you "conduct along" when studying it, instead of just listening to it.  His point was that conducting along with a piece as you listen requires more of an awareness of what beat you are actually on than just tapping a foot does, and that if you also use the left hand to signal the crescendos and diminuendos, you are studying/memorizing the dynamics at the same time, and the piece will burn into your memory easier, quicker and better.

I still felt silly doing it, but since it was required, and the prof would insist we do it when listening through our reference recordings before practising a piece, I did it.  And it didn't take too long to figure out he was right, as usual.

So it is useful enough.  But lately, I have found another use for it in practice.  In this astounding era of computers and video, you can make a quick vid of yourself conducting and use it with any/all sound stripped off it as a sort of silent visual upgrade to metronome practice.

Metronomes are ok, within their limitations.. But those limitations are kinda severe. All the clicks for the beats sound the same on most metronomes, so there is no good indicator of which beat of a measure you are actually on, and since you wouldn't usually be playing with a metronome in front of people, it may not be the best thing to get too used to that steady audible click for keeping your time.

Just a thought for you folks.  I've been using vids in place of metronome more in my own practice.  Part of my never-ending hunt for new tactics for the quest of playing better.  Maybe worth a try for you, maybe not.

Oh, one other additional advantage of "conducting along" when listening through pieces that you're studying.. Anyone who walks into the room while you're doing it will tend to assume you've gone totally bat-crap crazy and will be more inclined to just sneak back out than interrupt.  At least if they are sensible. This can be a great advantage over the usual non-musician attitude of assuming it is ok to come in and start babbling at you when you are trying to listen hard to a piece of music.. Extra craziness points if you buy or make a conductor's baton to use (some of them sell for as little as a couple bucks, or you can just stick a bamboo skewer into a wine cork to make your own).   But even conducting barehanded?  You'll still look pretty crazy.