Classical violinist Nadia Salerno-Sonenberg puts a lot of body-English into her playing and grimaces a lot. I heard her say in an interview that someone had criticized her for this. Until then, she had not even been aware that she did it. In her next concert, she was careful not to sway back and forth or "lean into the notes" as she played, and she kept her facial expression calm and serene.

She listened to a tape of the concert afterwards, and she said her performance was dull and lifeless. In the papers the following morning, she read a review of her concert in which the reviewer said the same thing; that she had played blandly, without her usual fire.

She decided to drop the controls, play the way she had always played, and let it all hang out.

Everything back to normal!

Don Firth