The eyes have it

‘Our eye-beams twisted, and did thread, Our eyes upon one double string.’ In The Ecstasy John Donne is describing the way that lovers’ eyes lock together, but we sometimes see something similar in concerts. Conductor and section principal eyeball each other, or quartet leader and cellist share an intense glance. Online you can watch Leonard Bernstein conducting a Haydn symphony, hands by his side, with nothing but his eyes and a grin; or Herbert von Karajan directing the musicians with his eyes clamped shut. So, what does eye contact actually achieve in music, and how important is it?

For an orchestra, eye contact serves different functions. Conductor Leonard Slatkin explains: ‘Firstly, conductors make eye contact because we want the attention of an individual or a section. We may look at the trumpets when they’ve got a climactic entry or at the second violins if they have a difficult part where they need help. Our choice of where we look is a major part of our armouries. Secondly, we have to convey all the emotions in the music, so there’s an emotional quality to the way we use our eyes – the colour, the brilliance, perhaps a smile. There are the physical gestures