Abstract

Performance theorists have identified a central problem in live artistic performances— sometimes a performance is transcendently good, but more often it is not. Even the best performers give uneven performances over time, and educators are frequently at a loss as to what teaching methods will counteract this phenomenon. So how can we provide a useful approach for educators to reduce inconsistency, without sacrificing quality, in the performing arts? This is the question that we hope to address in this paper, by outlining a philosophical grounding for a more consistent type of performance.First, we give a historical analysis of three differing solutions to this problem of consistency, looking to Plato, Diderot, and...