For me, listening to the wonderfully spectacular classical music was only 90% of the performance. The other 10% came from actually looking at the musicians play their instruments. While looking at the orchestra as a whole, one cannot help but notice how animated it is. You have the violin player gracefully moving her bow to and fro. You have the cello player tapping his feet to keep the rhythm. You have the percussionist, every now and then, getting out of his chair, reaching for his cymbals and preparing for his grand moment. Each and every musician in the orchestra was animated in some manner. I wondered to myself why this was. I questioned it in my mind. Surely, they have played these pieces numerous times. I doubt that it has the same awe-inspiring effect as it does to the audience.

Then it hit me! It all came down to one word: Passion. To these musicians, playing Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest or Purcell’s Suite from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is something much more than a simple gig at Carnegie Hall.  To them, it is a part of their passion. Playing a crisp, clean note, rising and falling perfectly to crescendos and decrescendos, and ignoring the disturbance of syncopation is part of who they are. Playing the piece of music perfectly is their goal for that night. Perfection, in fact, is their goal in life. Their passion takes control of them, both mentally and physically. A musician, truly engulfed by his or her passion, cannot help but physically feel the music. One notices the swaying to the pace of the music, and the sharp leans and head turns as the music makes sudden changes. You can only imagine that the musicians are seconds away from jumping out of their chairs with excitement! Even the conductor himself, who is in charge of guiding these talented musicians, is under the influence of his own passion. You cannot help but notice him bump and two-step to the music, or should I say his and the orchestra’s music.