They call it prima vista. At my son's choral concert tonight, the advanced groups received slips of paper on which they had never set their eyes.
Upon receipt, they turned to one another to evaluate the new musical notation. Small groups engaged in a hurried 2-minute rehearsal. Listening to their discordant practice, some members of the audience wiped the cold sweat from their brows. Their director, however, shined confidence upon her players while they snapped out the tempo in a mess of missed notes and hapless harmony.
An anonymous voice--like Oz behind the curtain--ended the short period of experimentation. Then, a signal, and the chorus raised their voices in unison.
As one, each trusted in their own knowledge and instincts. They were also magnets, relying on their invisible pull, vibrations braiding their voices together. We concertgoers worried for nothing, oblivious to the months of practice that led to tonight's victory.
This "first sight" level of mastery has me thinking. What can my students do entirely on their own? What more they can do with each other's support?
Ooh- prima vista applied to the classroom… You artfully captured the harmony of the night with your words. I wonder if anyone recorded it.
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