I imagine being seated near the front of the symphony lets violinists hear much of the symphony, but from a perspective not quite as grand as from the conductor's grand stand.

I guess the conductor hears it all, from close up and in front. And it must be a similar experience for those first violinists who sometimes conduct.

I can see where playing could be a distraction from listening to the music and comparing how it sounds live to how it sounds in a recording. But maybe a musician could compare live versus recorded in passages when he/she isn't playing, since there are probably passages in the music where the musician doesn't actually play.

[This message has been edited by Will (edited September 16, 2002).]