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Sport 32: Summer 2004
Alchemy
Alchemy
There is a mysterious alchemy that occurs between the watcher and the watched. To watch someone, closely, to direct toward them your full attention, is a powerful act: transformative. It seems, first, to transform the process of watching. It is not simply that this kind of observation yields dividends—it is not simply that you notice more, although that is of course true. The alchemy lies in what occurs with the watched: as if close observation has a galvanising effect, as if someone being observed is redefined even to themselves, as if their behaviour subtly rearranges itself into sharper focus.
Then there is the alchemy between the musician and the instrument. You ask all of them, one by one, if particular personality types are drawn to particular instruments. No, they will answer, immediately and flatly; something about this question renders musicians indignant. Then they will proceed to tell you, with no awareness of contradiction, Drummers are all crazy. Sax players are egocentric, real show-ponies. Bass players tend to be quieter, you know, their energy's kinda more still, like they're holding you all together—