The conductor of an ensemble in which I played could have just told us to play with more feeling. Instead, he assumed a deliberate monotone. He told us that a particular piece, in our hands, conveyed the message, "Here-we-are-on-Mars-made-by-machines, rock-and-roll-age."
It was an offbeat way of telling us that our playing was too robotic. He didn't mention this again, however, so, presumably, our expressiveness rose to his standard after that.
