Thursday, October 28, 2010

“[A] great reality test”

The late Richard T. Gill, economist and opera singer:

“Performing is a great reality test. There’s no tenure in it and the feedback is much less complicated than you get in academia. When you go out on that stage, you put your life on the line.”
[Don’t miss Elaine Fine’s comment, in the, uh, comments.]

comments: 1

Elaine Fine said...

When you perform on stage you wear clothes chosen for you by a costume designer, you sing words written by someone else, that are often in a language other than you own, set to music written (if you are lucky) by someone who understands the way the voice works. Most of the people in your audience are there to escape from the real world, and enter into the make-believe world of the opera (and many of them know the story and the tunes). Your job is not to disappoint them, and, perhaps, to make them love you (or at least your character). You also don't have to give them grades.

Boy is that different from academia!