Mind Tools: Applications and Solutions A Place Where One Can
Hear Download as PDF file I once conducted a concert in the
amphitheater of St. Paul's Town Square Park—a striking indoor
space, where towering green foliage shelters multi-level
terraces from the nearby public commotion. Visually, the space
engages the eye, but sonically it defeats the ear. Its ambient
noise and reverberation compete with the music it was designed
to accommodate. Music-making needs a hospitable acoustical
environment. There is another environment that affects a
performance: the psychological atmosphere in which the music is
rehearsed and played. This environment is a composite of the
values and attitudes we bring with us when we come together as
performers, conductor, and composer. These values form our frame
of reference and ultimately determine our capacity to find
meaning in the music. We know—to use an analogy—that the written
symbol “O” assumes the meaning of a number or a letter according
to the mental set we project onto it.