I sing a lot better when I "connect" with my audience, but I don't really know what that "connection" is - is it visual, audial, a combination of the two, or something else? On Tuesday and Thursday, we sang at "memory care" (Alzheimer's) units, and I could tell we were connecting because the people were making great eye contact and many were singing along. When I sing at campfires, I see the eyes of people watching me and see and hear them singing along. When I led other pilgrims singing at Santa Maria Maggiore and San Pietro in Vinculi in Rome a couple weeks ago, the "connection" was the wonderful sound we made with the great acoustics - and the hush as the talk of the tourists disappeared. I like to think the tourists thought we sounded as terrific as WE thought we sounded...

There's a great power rush when you sing in a place with great acoustics, and everybody else shuts up. But is it all an illusion? Could it be shock that shuts them up?

-Joe-