# Beyond 'Surprise or Satisfy' a New Theory of Performance

- Institution: Gresham College
- Speaker: Professor David Owen Norris
- Year: 2015
- Level: For everyone
- Language: English
- Subjects: Music
- Source: [Gresham College](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/beyond-surprise-or-satisfy-new-theory-performance)
- Licence: [Educational use (Gresham College's terms)](https://www.gresham.ac.uk/terms-and-conditions)
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (sources give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the source's own words)

That the key to an audience's attention is to fulfil or frustrate its expectations is a theory first hinted at in 1752 by Charles Avison. David Owen Norris fleshes it out with examples, including the blind-folded cellist and an occasion when Sir Peter Pears sang Eugene Onegin. And he takes the theory further by gazing into a looking-glass.

## Lectures

1. [Beyond 'Surprise or Satisfy' a New Theory of Performance](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/learn/gresham/beyond-surprise-or-satisfy-new-theory-performance/9e39107a72e2) (YouTube)