Ok, I am going to explain the conducting role (And all the getting screwed that goes along with it) in as much detail as possible.
You must memorize the pattern, and then push that direction as the little box in the upper left corner moves among the directions. That is easy. What isn't easy is the fact that you can conduct perfectly and the players will still beat you if they play perfectly.
That is, what the game does is keep a running tally of every time each player messes up. Every time the game registers you messing up, that is when the crowd throws something at your character. However, the conductor seems to start with 1 error against him already. So, the conductor can play perfectly but will still lose if one of the instrumentalists play perfectly as well.
I learned this through playing this game A LOT.
I don`t suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.