Does Height Make the Conductor?

The main character of my Perceval novels is Evan Quinn, a conductor.  He’s six feet three inches tall.  As I watched the Minnesota Orchestra rehearsal earlier this week and the concert yesterday, I was thinking a lot about Evan and his height.  Why?  I was watching a tall conductor at work this week. 

During my initial research on conductors and conducting, people I spoke with asked me to describe Evan.  Without exception each time, they told me that Evan could not be tall because conductors are short.  They told me I must change Evan’s appearance and height so that he would be a “real” or “authentic” conductor.  A (short) conductor also brought this up during an interview.  He had expected that Fuertwangler, a tall German conductor, would conduct slower than a short conductor.  In other words, his height determined the action of his hands and his energy.  The short conductor was surprised that Fuertwangler had no problems with fast tempos. 

I was astonished by this belief that height had anything to do with conducting.  Height discrimination in music?  Nonsense.  In defiance, I refused to change Evan.  It is interesting to me how often I have run into this — people wanting me to change a character to match their beliefs.  I wondered if they also wanted to change the real people around them whom they encountered daily.  Unfortunately, tall conductors, i.e. taller that six feet, are rather rare.  I believe Klaus Tennstedt was taller than six feet.  And now Mischa Santora, the conductor whom I was watching this week, is much taller than six feet. 

So, Evan stands tall at six feet three inches and conducts with the energy of a short conductor….