May 29, 2009
Lately I’ve been viewing my music and musical abilities more as a lifelong journey rather than something to master by a certain date. I freely recognize my weaknesses, yet I feel confident that I know how to continue working through them. I don’t feel paralyzed by these challenges, but instead I think of them as works-in-progress. In fact, the more I think about it and talk about it with friends, I’m struck by how very honorable and beautiful it is to be an artisan and artist all in one. To do something that literally takes years to master, or even to just bring to a high level – this is years of scales, long tones, new instruments, life experience, listening to other music, days of productivity and laziness, risks, self-control, brutal honesty – all of this is so very worthy of praise.
I have recently been listening over and over to an mp3 of a live performance of a well-respected group here in Holland; its link was given as a gift to all those who subscribe to their digital newsletter. The more I listen to it, the more I am inspired by this performance. The music – a trio sonata by Haydn – is generally playful, and they perform it with such joy. But as with all music I know by Haydn, there are so many other emotions at play, and I feel that this ensemble really captures that in their live performance. I laugh, I get nervous, I feel like a warrior, I feel out-of-control, I feel sympathetic. I’m struck by how open these performers seem to be, how freely they display these passions, how they dare to risk even with the occasional out-of-tune note as a result. I’m touched and inspired by the fact that they perform and share their years of life experience with me through these collective sounds.
Being a musician isn’t just something you learn in a 4-year college degree and then easily turn into a job in that field. It’s so much more than that. Sadly, it is also often so much less financially stable, but I cannot help still feeling hope that others occasionally recognize the immense amount of blood, sweat, and tears (and also joy and playfulness!) that go into preparing one piece of music. As I’ve been (re-)discovering with my mp3 gift, I as an audience member, and therefore also my audience members, appreciate the musician’s efforts on stage. Hopefully one day the money will be there, if not in abundance at least in a sufficient amount to let me continue what I love to do.
Special thanks here to my friend H for inspiring many of these thoughts, and for being a constant sounding-board for my latest musings.
2 Comments
Why am I constantly strugglying with inspiration? While others it comes to them. I feel like I have no hope and I did come up with alot of poems and now nothing!!
Inspiration is sometimes difficult for me when I’m willing it to happen. Like many other things in life, in fact, when we worry and stress about inspiration, it can become very shy or obstinate about coming around.
There is a very great TED lecture (here) by writer Elizabeth Gilbert, discussing the creative genius. It is a very real and entertaining look at creativity in general.
That said, when I’m struggling with inspiration, there are a few things I try:
1. Teach myself. If I am trying to get inspired about a piece of music I am preparing, and I have become unfocused or bored in all the technique, I pretend I am teaching it to someone else. Literally, I talk aloud, I give my student (myself) many different ideas of how to play a certain passage. I might ask myself, What emotion does this passage evoke? Can I play it in a different way and get a different emotion?
2. Shift my focus. Rather than focus on my music, for example, I try to learn about something else in the same time period. What art was being produced in the same year and place my piece was written? What novels? What new inventions? Is there any possible way these things would have been known by the composer? Did he or she care?
3. Take a vacation. There’s nothing like complete rest to let your mind become free and open to inspiration. Sometimes I do nothing at all except eat and sleep, and that is the best help there is.
4. Challenge myself to something new. My entire build-a-flute discovery last year was all about finding more inspiration and understanding.
5. Set time frames. This has become a very good one for forcing creativity a bit when it isn’t just flowing. I set a very small time frame in which to do something – for example, I might practice for only one hour one day, but knowing that I only have that one hour creates a bit of adrenaline or some other internal reaction. It usually ends up being very productive.
6. Read biographies. I read Hillary Clinton’s biography a couple years ago, and just seeing what she has accomplished in her life, what she has faced, what experiences she had, what she has chosen for herself….it was all very empowering and inspiring. And it could still be so whether or not you agree with her political ideas.
7. Try new music. I recently had a few concerts on modern flute and so I practiced some music that was almost opposite of what I do on a daily basis (anything written before 1850). I could image that would work in all creative fields. If you are a poet, try something that rhymes (or doesn’t, whatever the case may be), or is in the style of Shakespeare, or uses half English and half Spanish for a change.
Well, these are just a few thoughts. I know that sometimes creativity and inspiration are not always the same thing, and each circumstance warrants a different technique. Best of luck!
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