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Poll

What is your favorite note on the piano?

A
1 (14.3%)
B
1 (14.3%)
C
1 (14.3%)
D
1 (14.3%)
E
1 (14.3%)
F
0 (0%)
G
2 (28.6%)

Total Members Voted: 7

Topic: A definition of music  (Read 1356 times)

Offline pianosfun

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A definition of music
on: January 10, 2014, 03:03:25 PM
[DISCLAIMER: This is only one perspective on music's definition and the learning process. There are many others also. I understand that the piano is a very physical instrument. This is topic is pretty extreme and should be attempted in moderation.] Hello. A little over a week ago, I stumbled upon music. This is a profound statement, for I started playing the piano at age 12 and at times would practice 5 hours a day. I am now 19. I am truly excited to have stumbled upon this great art and hope that others can enjoy it also. As you might have read from some of my other polls, I used to obsess over technique, yet at that time I had a wrong definition for the word "technique."

I posted this idea on fb a few days ago. I was able to verbalize it after about a week of practicing for it's own sake, without thought of anything else, except the consolation of the piano keys... But yes, I truly think rationally that virtuoso technique is easy to come by, IF a person finds music... It is another world than the one commonly experienced. It is not skill, but simplicity. It is for sure not proud, but contrite and endearing. I hope that you can find it!!!
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To a musician, chords and scales and theory often times reveal to him more about music than entire compositions by composers do. Both of these are only tools, or means by which a person can experience it. This calls for a definition of the word, I guess. So music is the true expression of one’s self. Notice the word true. There is no getting around sincerity. A person can very rarely lie to himself. At almost every moment he is certain about his thoughts, desires, intentions, motivations, and his stance on issues. This makes it impossible for him to learn music if there is no sincerity, or even delight, in his use of these tools to embrace it. So rather than taking the steps that would be necessary for the learning of music, he takes a different series of steps that lead him down a different path.


What is very sad, indeed, is that a large portion of people associated with the music world go about embracing it in this way. There is no love, and thus there is no personal, intrinsic, achievement. Though there might be the appearance of something genuine in the form of elaborate runs and lengthy memorizations, in the end they have learned nothing. Please do not assume that I am saying that all musicians perpetually suffer this tragedy for their entire life, but I do feel that many do every once in a while and are more than often forced into it. Neither conclude that I am implying that a systematic immersing of music’s history can be set aside as some option of personal interest. For how then would one produce a work of art without supplying himself the proper paints? (And the paint of piano does take a long time to learn, with much patience! But patience is the root of any love for anything…). I am coming to this point - Music is what you say for yourself, not what another person tells you.

Of course, the musicians of the past, ancient days were found to be very shrewd people. And they had to be. In the times in which they lived, some all out, creative pursuit of art would very likely result in the destruction of that hope, for the society would banish them. So we must also be partners with society, since we are attempting to be reasonable with them (Sincerity is reasonableness). To conform entirely to society, however, quenches the love for music entirely… But shrewdness and wisdom are indeed that brave musician’s closest friend!


This is what I’m saying:     

People should compose more these days. Now, the piano world is a big competition. At times the famous pianists are known not because of the love for the art but for learning all of the repertoire that ever existed. Why do you think that is? Was music ever meant to be a “Whoever learns the most notes before he dies wins!” type of deal? And what’s worse, everyone looks at that and says, “If I’m going to do anything, I’ve got to do that. If I don’t do that I’ll never survive.” And many centers of piano instruction adhere to this as the rule of all rules as well… There are excessive exams and deadlines, forcing students into a frenzy of madness that is in no way similar to true creativity. Injuries result because people focus on other things rather than their own technique (Virtuoso technique comes easily with an understanding of one’s self and 30,000 hours. Not a bunch of Hannon books and scales {but these are great tools}, which are quickly frowned upon if not played at a fast speed for any reason! Any pause or slowing down is looked at as the enemy of learning, while speed and fast progression are looked at learning’s friend).

- If a contestant of a competition cares much about what the judges of the competition thinks, he is by no means playing the instrument correctly. -
-  Nervousness will inevitably go away when a person is honest with himself and does not fear the possibility of failure. There is no failure for any musician except the insanity of hypocrisy  -
- Music demands the emptying of one's self -
- At the end of the day, the thing that marks the true musician is this: He delights in sitting down and playing a few notes in solitude as much or more than he does playing at a large concert. But if he loves the concert more, it is for music's sake, and not his reputation. -