In a recent episode of On Being, Krista Tippett interviewed science writer Erik Vance about some of the ideas around placebo. The wide-ranging and fascinating conversation included this insight:
We need to have the theater around medicine. The white lab coat, for example. Why do you need that? People aren’t splattering blood on themselves anymore, they need to see — [laughs] I certainly hope not. But that’s why we have it, and that’s something we identify with getting better. And all the placebo scientists I work with, they always stress the importance of the lab coat.
And all that theater is really important. And it’s a huge part — it’s the stories we tell ourselves.
Erik Vance, On Being – The Drugs Inside Your Head
The theater of expertise is important – the signifiers, the unspoken stories that shape the experience. And I think it’s true for conductors, too. Both in concert – we need to behave like a conductor in concert, to tell a story to our audience – and in rehearsal, where using the signifiers of a successful conductor is a good way to become more a more successful conductor.
This isn’t “Fake it till you make it” – you aren’t pretending to be something you aren’t so that you can learn to be that thing. It’s the converse – this is pretending to be something you are, so that your ensemble will go along with you.
What placebos do you offer in rehearsal? Are the effective?