Musical Musings

Just so y'all know, I think that is the cleverest title I have ever come up with for a blog post EVER!

I wanted to talk about music today, because we all know music is important to us in some way or another.  My main point is just going to be to spill everything that's in my head regarding music, or, more specifically, the violin. :)

I'm a senior this year, and, as the climax of my senior year (aside from graduation), I am having a senior recital.  Now that's all well and good except I am deathly afraid of playing my violin in front of an audience.  This recital is a huge step of bravery on my part.

In an effort to do as well as possible, I've started practicing a lot.  We're talking over 5.5 hours a week instead of my usual 4.5.  And I intend to increase it even more...maybe even up to 8 or 9 hours a week. I hope that all the extra practice will give me a level of mastery that I would otherwise not be able to attain.

All that being said, when I lay down to go to sleep I start thinking about that recital, without fail, every single night.  And I get scared.  Terrified.  I have to make a conscious decision to think about something else or else I won't sleep.

Well, today as I was writing, I came up with a visual that really struck me.  My violin is like my best friend, OK, so here's the visual:

It's just me.  Me and him. (My violin is male, OK? Don't judge.)  We're standing on stage about to play Mozart's 4th violin concerto (One of my favorite pieces).  It's like I'm telling him a story.  And the music that comes out of his body is his way of responding to that story.  He's laughing, crying, sympathizing, commiserating, and communicating with me.  Two friends having a conversation through a piece of music.

Now picture the music itself, as though you didn't know about the conversation.  What the audience perceives is the purest form of magic--music.  An instrument played with conviction and passion and beauty.

That is my ultimate goal.  That should be the goal of any musician who plays for an audience.  Don't play the violin robotically or without passion.  Every note should come from the depths of your soul.  In the words of the great composer Ludwig van Beethoven, "To play a wrong note is insignificant.  To play without passion is inexcusable."  

So there's my little rant about music. :) I'll try to write more often...school's picking up, and, like I said, I'm practicing 2 hours a day so.....yeah.  Bye!