It reminds me of a couple of moments I had recently with my piano teacher (who, let's just say, really knows what he's talking about). I really like to add things in Bach; ornaments, rolling chords, added notes to chords etc. He started to get a little impatient with me and said something along the lines of "Michael, I respect your opinion, but you are a nobody and cannot get away with this. Gould could do it, because he's Glenn Gould. Change the music when you graduate." It was interesting because I had never really thought about it. In my efforts to be "different" I was telling my audience that I didn't know what I was doing, whereas Gould, Richter, Argerich, etc. can do just about anything they want and it's OK. There are ways to be different without changing the music.
Dear Mike,
there are three points that I'd like to comment. Please, notice I don't know your teacher, thus is nothing even remotely personal. But his view of the process is a clear example of the traditional way.
1. When your teacher say "He's Glenn Gould", he thinks he is ending the discussion, but this is only an evasion, the old and good fallacy of appeal to authority. It happens a lot in the academic life, because everybody is very much concerned about having someone to quote, and to respect the scientific method. I'm fine with that, I have my articles published and the like, but when it comes to the creative process, is actual non sense, because the greatest creative minds in art history disregarded rules and tradition as much as they wanted to.
Notice that I don't talk about avant-garde necessarily: Bach is one of the most conservative composers of all time in the sense of innovations (because he did not innovate a single day in his life), but his rules of counterpoint are just that:
his. The fact that he turned out to be The Law after his death is beyond his own control. But it is important to know that in his own time, he was not given any importance. Furthermore, in the famous contest to the Leipzig post, his talent was considered mediocre.
2. That leads me to the second interesting point. Why Glenn Gould is, today,
Gleen Gould? Because he observed the boundaries of piano as an instrument? Because he respected the boundaries of academic interpretation? Because he was afraid of being misunderstood or not being commercially accepted? Quite the contrary, in all aspects! He had have a deep respect for his own musical view, and developed an exquisite art that is highly influential. Today, if you like or dislike his interpretations, you can't disregard them.
3. Finally, the "wait to graduation" phrase is a most common one. I listen to that in both sides, as a student and then as a teacher, and I never accepted it as a reasonable argument. First, and foremost, I think the undergraduate in particular but also the graduate studies are the best possible moment to experiment freely. As a teacher I also did encourage my pupils to try anything, to push the limits, to explore. It is another discussion, but again the question is the same: finding a spot under the sun is not about respecting the rules, but of understanding them and breaking the ones you must to.
Re-reading the above, there is a last thing to consider. I'm not in the self-help business, but you are not nobody, and the fact that Richter or Gould are names do not change anything. They were great pianists and artists because they were putting their efforts on their recordings/recitals/etc everyday. Gould never thought, on the start of a new day of work: "
I'm Glenn Gould, I can do whatever I want and people will accept because, well,
I'm Glenn Gould!" This is not a basis for anything, this is mere lunatic reasoning. Or no reasoning at all...
Best regards,
Jay.