Some singers never learn the joy of getting beyond the notes and rhythms.
It’s obvious when they aren’t in a hurry to get past learning of the notes. If they knew the joy that awaited, they’d want to hurry up and get there!
Alice Parker says that she can only notate 5% of what she hears. Learning notes and rhythms, then, only gets you 5% of the way to the potential of the piece.
The problem is, if you can execute that 5% well, it can be easy to miss just how much you didn’t get to. Choir walk onstage all the time to perform that 5%, or maybe 5% more than that.
We’re used to that level of performance. As listeners and as performers.
But, in my experience it only takes one time reaching the true potential of music to become incapable of settling for less. You might not always get to the 100% mark, but you leave the 5% in the dust in your quest for more of the music.
And the first sign is how quickly you learn your notes and rhythms.