I had a great experience with a PA this week where she made a quick diagnosis of an allergy before she ever did any medical tests. Small talk conversation and a few pieces of information and she was able to diagnose, then confirm very quickly.
We, the family, were too in the middle to see the whole picture; she, new to the situation, and armed with training and experience, was able to see everything.
It’s the reason why it’s so valuable to have guest clinicians in to work with choirs. We conductors can be too in the middle of everything, and that fresh expert perspective can sometimes perfectly diagnose and solve a problem.
And it’s what we should strive for as educators – to let our expertise drive our analysis, rather than leaning on our familiarity with the pieces. Step back, look with fresh eyes like the PA did, and then solve problems objectively.