What makes a conductor’s interpretation of a symphony or an opera unique? Tempo, for one. Music aficionados, read über-Nerds, compare the duration of certain works, differing sometimes by several minutes, even tens of minutes. Fun stuff. Second, the exposure of certain melodies or countermelodies. Surprising what those hidden countermelodies reveal when skillfully exposed. Third, nuance: whisperings, unctions, gestures, an oboe here, the brush of a cymbal, an accent, a sforzando, a pianississimo. These subtleties contribute to the infinite variety of an interpretation, make it a individual, living thing. There are subtleties of the soul, too, unctions of spirit, far removed from our base instincts, from habit, the immediate cursory response. We facilitate them how? By waiting. By pausing, By allowing the angels of our better nature to be expressed. You/we can attain that skill. We can refine it. Curiously, one place to awaken it is in the study of Alexander Technique. It teaches us to wait for the reponse that seems immediately beyond us. It is right there waiting for you to wait. You know how good you feel when you give a lovely, completely appropriate gift? That’s how good you’ll feel today by giving the gift of your better nature in waiting. At least once today, in the words of scripture: “Wait, I say, wait.”What makes a conductor’s interpretation of a symphony or an opera unique? Tempo, for one. Music aficionados, read über-Nerds, compare the duration of certain works, differing sometimes by several minutes, even tens of minutes. Fun stuff. Second, the exposure of certain melodies or countermelodies. Surprising what those hidden countermelodies reveal when skillfully exposed. Third, nuance: whisperings, unctions, gestures, an oboe here, the brush of a cymbal, an accent, a sforzando, a pianississimo. These subtleties contribute to the infinite variety of an interpretation, make it a individual, living thing. There are subtleties of the soul, too, unctions of spirit, far removed from our base instincts, from habit, the immediate cursory response. We facilitate them how? By waiting. By pausing, By allowing the angels of our better nature to be expressed. You/we can attain that skill. We can refine it. Curiously, one place to awaken it is in the study of Alexander Technique. It teaches us to wait for the reponse that seems immediately beyond us. It is right there waiting for you to wait. You know how good you feel when you give a lovely, completely appropriate gift? That’s how good you’ll feel today by giving the gift of your better nature in waiting. At least once today, in the words of scripture: “Wait, I say, wait.”
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