“Audiences don’t always hear so good, but they see real well.”
In college I was singing with the University of Denver Chorale when I first heard this. We were backing up the Denver Symphony in a performance of Verdi’s Requiem. During one rehearsal Brian Priestman, the music director, was talking to those of us in the chorus about when we should sit and stand at different points in the piece. We even rehearsed our movements. Priestman said they were an important part of the total experience; how we moved could add drama or emphasis to the end or beginning of a section. “You see,” he explained with a wry smile, “audiences don’t always hear so good, but they see real well.”
Continue reading “Clinching the Content”