One of the biggest challenges that comes to us as musicians can be playing with feeling... not just playing with a little vibrato, or a little movement, but with soul. As a beginner, it's so hard to draw emotion when you're so busy concentrating on fingering and intonation, but, for just a moment, lay all that aside in your mind.
Making music is about more than notes, rhythms, and dynamics on a page. You can teach anyone to play that with enough time and practice. Literally, ANYONE can learn that. It's like learning to speak a language. Yes, it's more natural for some than others, but give them the right instrument, and anyone can become an instrument player. Cello, flute, piano....anything. They can play an instrument. So what makes us musicians?
For some, playing an instrument is just a requirement in their high school curriculum, or elementary school music class. Who didn't have to learn to play recorder in third grade, at least in the U.S., right? It's almost a rite of passage. Some people changed over to chorus in middle school, some joined the band, and it didn't really matter because you had to do it. It's not necessarily because you wanted to, although, for some of us, it awakened a part of us we didn't know existed. It started with "My Country 'Tis of Thee," and "Let There Be Peace on Earth." You could still sing them to this day if you wanted to, but you don't.... If you're a parent, your kids are STILL singing them today. And oh, the dreaded concert. But I digress....
So, again, what makes us musicians? Suzuki method is a great teacher and a good path for some, but that's not a method I ever used. Suzuki uses a very strict teaching curriculum that you have to be certified in, and makes a lot of good players, but does it really make musicians? That's a point that's open for debate. Many of them are extremely skilled. I've seen many, many prodigies come out of that method. There are many different schools of thought on pedagogy (that's a fancy word for teaching, for those of us who need it hillbilly-ized). Many, many schools, and new ones are created in each generation, although the best ones survive for decades and beyond.
But being a musician requires more than skill. It requires feeling. It requires being able to elicit certain emotions from the listener, to communicate love, hate, anger, romance... all of these are possible, and there are seemingly endless possibilities and senses for music to convey. Think of all the emotions you feel in a single day... some compositions are able to run the gamut in one simple 3-minute piece, although that's quite the challenge for most composers. There are hour-long symphonies that don't even begin to touch all of them. Operas can get closer, but how? And why? What is it about music that touches us to our very core, whether in a good or bad way? Why are you listening to a piece and suddenly find yourself crying?
As musicians, we're challenged to find out what the composer intended to convey in the piece, to determine if any emotion was meant, or if the piece had a particular purpose. If the composer is alive, your job is easier, but if not... you'll quite possibly find yourself doing hours of research to find out what that purpose was, and it's not always easy on the lesser-known pieces. On others, like the Elgar Concerto or Bach, it's fairly simple to find out.
Yes, I'm coming right back to the Elgar Variations...again. Look at the video below. I don't speak Greek (I can barely do English half the time), but before you even press play, look at the emotion on this woman's face. Absorb that face into your mind, then press play and watch as they keep coming back to this one woman, and then read on, and I'll tell you the story of her emotion.
I dare you to watch it twice without crying... this poor woman is literally playing her heart out, and quite obviously filled with emotions during this performance. At one point, they zoom in and you can see tears in her eyes. Why? Because this was the last performance of the Greek National Orchestra as they were de-funded as part of shutting down Greek public television. She was losing her job, and her music all at the same time. She played the pain in her very soul. But how? Where do you draw that from and how do you convey it?
Tonight, I heard the most poignant and simple verbalization of how to play with the deepest emotion. Think of one person who is no longer on this Earth, but that left their mark on you while they were here, and play for them. Up until tonight, I'd never moved much while playing my cello, particularly on a challenging piece like the Elgar variation. I moved a lot on my flute before, but never my cello. Tonight, once he made that statement, instead of playing my music, I let my music play through me, and tonight was the best I've ever played the Elgar.
So when you just cannot seem to put emotion into your playing, stop concentrating on trying to play the music. Notes and rhythms never change. Dynamics are always written in the same places. But the emotion that you let flow through you is the one that you will leave with your audience. Be the lady in the video and play from your soul, not just your technique. Play for someone who can't hear the notes, but can hear your heart.
Happy Cello'ing! #celloislife