“Music, such music, is a sufficient gift. Why ask for happiness; why hope not to grieve? It is enough, it is to be blessed enough, to live from day to day and to hear such music-not too much, or the soul could not sustain it-from time to time.”
Music has always been a part of my life. Actually, music started out as a part of my life when I was 5. Now, a decade or so down the line, music has gone from being a part of my life to being a part of me. Music forms my soul and without it, I just won’t be me.
I was born when my sister was eight. She, at that time, had just started going for piano lessons. I grew up listening to her playing. I yearned to make music just like her. She taught me how to play “mary had a little lamb” on the piano. I surprised my parents by insisting on music lessons. I guess they never expected me to want to learn how to play the piano since my sister went out of their wish and not her own wish. Anyway, I started my lessons with my gem of a teacher, Miss Lee. She was, and still is, a very, very, sweet kind person who never gets mad even if you forget to do your theory homework. Years rolled by as I went for one music exam after another, climbing the ladder of piano music education from Grade 1 until where I am now, Grade 8. I hated scales. Even now, after my grade 8 exams are over, I still dislike scales. I feel there is something very banal, irritating and redundant about the way the notes go up, tone by tone then descend in the exact same manner to end where it started. I loved exam pieces.
At one point, when I was in Grade 2, I grew really bored of the piano. I wanted to stop lessons. My mother refused point blank to let me stop. At that time, it seemed unreasonable but now, many years later, I am extremely glad I didn’t stop. Only this year did I start to truly, completely, totally enjoy the music I play. The end of my grade 8 exams gave me a sort of freedom to play what I want and not to just keep drilling on scales and exam pieces. I learned to listen to what I am playing and to try and feel the emotion conveyed by a certain piece and then inject my own interpretation into it.
Then, somewhere in December 2003, I picked up the violin. Lessons progressed and zipped along unexpectedly fast. I will be honest. I never really loved the violin in the beginning. Firstly, it is tiring for a beginner. It is also a lot more difficult than piano. But my piano knowledge helped me in my violin. Strange, isn’t it? I was a lot more talented at the violin than the piano yet I loved the piano more.
Life has her own way of forcing us to make decisions we don’t want to make. I was faced with such a decision last February. I was swamped with activities, and classes this year. I had school 5 days a week, 4 extra tuition classes, choir practices 2 or 3 times a week(each lasting 2 hours), piano lessons, my impending grade 8 exams, violin lessons, and violin exams. On top of that, I was taking on 11 subjects in school and desperately determined to do well in all of them. Life was horribly hectic. Finally, one day somewhere in February I decided that I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to drop at least one activity. I couldn’t stop school as much as I wanted to.(School is a waste of time, except for socializing. I prefer studying on my own and getting help only for what I can’t do myself). Tuition classes were necessary because those were my weak subjects I needed tutoring at spots. Choir was my life, singing my soul. I had to decide between piano and violin. 10 years worth of banging on the keys or 1 and a half years worth of sawing away on the strings? I decided that my Grade 8, being the last grade before diploma, demanded more priority than my violin. Anyway, I liked my piano more. So I dropped my violin lessons. But I haven’t put the fiddle to rest forever. Next year, after I finish school, I will still have around 5 months before the results come out. That time, I will learn again. From time to time, I still take out my violin, feel the wood under my chin, put the bow to the strings and play.
I love to sing. I love to sing in a choir, to be more precise. It is a wonderful feeling, to be able to make music with another person. Such soulful connectivity cannot be found anywhere else. When I sing in the choir, it feels like all of us, every single choir member are working together, singing together with every other person, regardless stranger or friend and we are making music that belongs to all of us and each of us. It is as though we are sharing what is ours although it is not ours but everyone’s. Its beautiful to hear someone else sing a different melody that completely merges with your melody to make something that is ethereal and complete together. That is what choral singing is all about: listening. Just listen to the person beside you, behind you, and listen to yourself. Listen to all three separately then listen as a whole.
Indescribable.
My relationship with my piano teacher has evolved. She was once my teacher. Now she is my teacher AND my friend. Music really does bring people together. I suppose that’s why we choir members are so close to each other. Music irrevocably ties together every single thing, every single atom that comes into contact with it.
All music is listening. Listening is not limited to the transmitting of soundwaves as impulse to your brain. Listening also comes from inside of you. It is already there, all seven notes do re mi fa so la ti to with sharps, flats and naturals. You just have to consciously listen. Very consciously.
You can’t say “I cannot sing.” Because you CAN sing. Anyone who can talk can sing. Normal speech is a form of singing isn’t it? To prove my point, try this. Try talking very, very slowly by dragging out the words. And voila! You’re singing!(at a very very slow pace with one note melody)
You can’t say “I can’t listen”. You have got ears, so you can listen. You have got a soul, you have brains, you can listen. His deafness began to hit Beethoven around 1801. In a letter written to his friend Karl Ameda on 1 July 1801, he admitted he was experiencing signs of deafness. He was deaf when he died in 1827. That means he composed his famous symphony no.9 when he was deaf. He never physically heard what he composed.
When it comes to music, you should not limit yourself. There are so many things to play, so many things to sing, so many different ways of expression. Be a relentless Christopher Columbus and explore music. Music lasts till the very end, doesn’t it? Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony.
I can never hide my emotions from the music I play. Once, I was angry at someone and sat at the piano. I tried to play Mozart’s Tow Part Invention no.8. Have you heard it before? IT is not meant to be angry but the way I played made it angry. Till today, I never play that again when I am angry. It feels wonderfully pathetic and satisfyingly self pitying to listen to sad songs when I am down.
Have you heard of or played Mariage D’Amour by Paul Sennevile and Olivier Twist? It is one of my all time favourites. You should go listen to it and tell me what you think. Maybe you HAVE heard it before(its quite popular) but just didn’t know that it was Mariage D’Amour.
You may be thinking, why am I writing all this? Isn’t this supposed to be “advice on music education”? I firmly believe that the best advice and knowledge is one that is gleaned from your own deductions of other people’s experience and your experience too.
I have told you about my life with music and what I think of music. Now it is up to you.