Silvio can we please form a duo in both words and acoustics?! Really enjoyed this piece as you took us on a tour of semi-serious views on the mystery of music, with great knowledge and humor. Your guitar teacher is absolutely right -- "cantabile" is the trickiest style to play, and one thing that particularly annoys me is that nobody, like literally nobody, reads JS Bach's preface to the Inventions, which basically says that one should play cantabile. And obviously very few people actually do that :( so glad that your guitar teacher is fighting to keep this tradition alive!
Love the conclusion too -- we can just let it be and enjoy it. For musicians though, the ultimate joy is in making and creating music, and knowing that people will be touched by the music. Oh, and I'm all for playing Shostakovich to the aliens, string quartet 8 to scare them a bit, and symphony 15 to show them that hey, homo sapiens are actually pretty fun too ;)
Thank you so much for your interesting comment. I confess I didn't know about JSB's preface to the Inventions. Gosh, I learn so much from you! You're such a repository of awesome knowledge. And I was SURE you would comment on Shostakovich lol :)
This is a very timely musing for me to read, because just recently I got a Spotify account, as a person who over 6 decades has just never been a music listener. I like music when I hear it, but I don't seek it out in moments of leisure. So as I'm starting to listen, I'm finding all parts of my inner world—feelings, moods, sensations— getting lit up and activated in directions and ways that I'm not used to. I realized that I actually have some discomfort with music because I lose control of my moods and emotions in its presence. Not in a bad way, but just the fact of being emotionally moved around, not of my own volition, makes me uneasy. It's not a flattering admission, but in a way, it does speak to this same mysterious power of music. I can see there is something in this for me, and it's a new area of exploration and even personal practice to allow myself to be touched by a mysterious force.
Totally, Rick. Music drives so much of our unconscious, in so many different ways. It can be uneasiness, as in your case. Or it can be tears to the eyes, or infinite joy, or appreciation for all the humans that created this wealth of emotion-shaping material. A body of work that grows every minute of every day. Material that doesn't need a translation. Thank you for showing your spontaneous, unfiltered self in these comments, Rick. You always open my eyes to different perspectives and make me think and learn a lot.
Writing from conversation is a wonderful thing, but I'm discovering that I enjoy writing AS conversation even more, and feel so appreciative to have our brilliant little community to splash around in the pool with!
As someone who first studied stringed instruments I had a breakthrough when learning piano from a teacher who mentioned I played piano like a stringed instrument. I told him surely it was as there are strings! No, he informed me, the keys and hammers make it a percussion instrument. In a moment my mind was blown, world changed forever, and I was unlocked to play the piano.
Later in life, when Learned of the Quadrivium, and discovered that the ancients believed the discipline of music was the experience and understanding of time had me considering that perhaps music touches us at our souls because it is time itself. We are finite beings with infinite souls and I believe music is what tears us in two and then bridges the gap. Music is our relationship with time.
Wonderful piece Silvio. I still have so many thoughts that you've drummed up with your words. But what a contemplation. I was just getting ready to tune my Bass for Palm Sunday service this week. I'll be meditating on these words with my rehearsals. My best to you!
Thank you so much, Steven. Reciprocating your thinking with your concept that music is time. So interesting. "We are finite beings with infinite souls and I believe music is what tears us in two and then bridges the gap" -- love this reflection and this idea of how music can be viewed as the liason between finite and infinite. This will have me thinking for a while! So glad this piece evoked such captivating thoughts. Thank you for being here! :)
Such a pleasure reading the thoughts of a (semi?-)serious music fan and player. You've managed to capture some ineffable feelings I've always had about music, and then gone deeper into it. Really enjoyed reading and re-reading this.
Hadn't listened to Kid Charlemagne until you mentioned it, and now it's rotating in my playlist. Will have to do the other homework.
Among many other thing, it made me think about the difference between listening to music live or recorded, which I'll be mulling over.
Oscar, thank you! I used to like live music better than studio music, but today, as long as a piece is good, it makes no difference to me. Steely Dan for example were the quintessential studio band, where they would try to perfect a song by being days and night on every little sequence of notes, or by trying, like, thirty different guitarists to pick the one they deem suitable for a solo. Being chosen to play in their song was a testament of supreme skill and creativity. Much like with Miles Davis or Frank Zappa. Glad you liked this!
That's a great point, and so interesting, I didn't know that.
A bit different angle, but reading it made me think of Radiohead's The King of Limbs, where they experimented with the recording a lot, both on the process and the instruments. And then when they had to figure out how to play it live they had to transform the songs.
I liked the record when I first listened to it, but when I heard it live I was completely blown away, it was such a different thing.
And for myself can also think of more transformative experiences in live concerts than listening home (though I've definitely had a few home), but then again that's different from what you're talking about here. Just another thought emanating from your thoughts!
Oh now by reading your response I realize I misinterpreted your point. For some reason I was thinking of the difference between live records and studio records. Anyway. I’m with you on live performances. All the way! And I love your RH example, a band that I put among the ones who create “intelligent” music. :)
This was such a nostalgic read for me. I'm more a rhythm guitarist myself, but I felt the same way when I heard David Gilmour's solo in Comfortably Numb, Slash's solo in November Rain and Jimmy Page in Stairway to heaven. Although I don't think I can express my feelings better than Steven has above. Beautiful piece, Silvio.
Oh thank you Sairam. So glad this resonated and brought back memories, good memories that is. Among the ones you mentioned I have to be partial to Jimmy Page in Stairway to Heaven. I grew up with it. :)
Silvio can we please form a duo in both words and acoustics?! Really enjoyed this piece as you took us on a tour of semi-serious views on the mystery of music, with great knowledge and humor. Your guitar teacher is absolutely right -- "cantabile" is the trickiest style to play, and one thing that particularly annoys me is that nobody, like literally nobody, reads JS Bach's preface to the Inventions, which basically says that one should play cantabile. And obviously very few people actually do that :( so glad that your guitar teacher is fighting to keep this tradition alive!
Love the conclusion too -- we can just let it be and enjoy it. For musicians though, the ultimate joy is in making and creating music, and knowing that people will be touched by the music. Oh, and I'm all for playing Shostakovich to the aliens, string quartet 8 to scare them a bit, and symphony 15 to show them that hey, homo sapiens are actually pretty fun too ;)
Helen! I'm down for it!
Thank you so much for your interesting comment. I confess I didn't know about JSB's preface to the Inventions. Gosh, I learn so much from you! You're such a repository of awesome knowledge. And I was SURE you would comment on Shostakovich lol :)
This is a very timely musing for me to read, because just recently I got a Spotify account, as a person who over 6 decades has just never been a music listener. I like music when I hear it, but I don't seek it out in moments of leisure. So as I'm starting to listen, I'm finding all parts of my inner world—feelings, moods, sensations— getting lit up and activated in directions and ways that I'm not used to. I realized that I actually have some discomfort with music because I lose control of my moods and emotions in its presence. Not in a bad way, but just the fact of being emotionally moved around, not of my own volition, makes me uneasy. It's not a flattering admission, but in a way, it does speak to this same mysterious power of music. I can see there is something in this for me, and it's a new area of exploration and even personal practice to allow myself to be touched by a mysterious force.
Totally, Rick. Music drives so much of our unconscious, in so many different ways. It can be uneasiness, as in your case. Or it can be tears to the eyes, or infinite joy, or appreciation for all the humans that created this wealth of emotion-shaping material. A body of work that grows every minute of every day. Material that doesn't need a translation. Thank you for showing your spontaneous, unfiltered self in these comments, Rick. You always open my eyes to different perspectives and make me think and learn a lot.
Writing from conversation is a wonderful thing, but I'm discovering that I enjoy writing AS conversation even more, and feel so appreciative to have our brilliant little community to splash around in the pool with!
As someone who first studied stringed instruments I had a breakthrough when learning piano from a teacher who mentioned I played piano like a stringed instrument. I told him surely it was as there are strings! No, he informed me, the keys and hammers make it a percussion instrument. In a moment my mind was blown, world changed forever, and I was unlocked to play the piano.
Later in life, when Learned of the Quadrivium, and discovered that the ancients believed the discipline of music was the experience and understanding of time had me considering that perhaps music touches us at our souls because it is time itself. We are finite beings with infinite souls and I believe music is what tears us in two and then bridges the gap. Music is our relationship with time.
Wonderful piece Silvio. I still have so many thoughts that you've drummed up with your words. But what a contemplation. I was just getting ready to tune my Bass for Palm Sunday service this week. I'll be meditating on these words with my rehearsals. My best to you!
Thank you so much, Steven. Reciprocating your thinking with your concept that music is time. So interesting. "We are finite beings with infinite souls and I believe music is what tears us in two and then bridges the gap" -- love this reflection and this idea of how music can be viewed as the liason between finite and infinite. This will have me thinking for a while! So glad this piece evoked such captivating thoughts. Thank you for being here! :)
I similarly found beauty in the elegance of the quadrivium and lamented the seemingly haphazard design of modern education.
"Without music, life would be a mistake."
Such a pleasure reading the thoughts of a (semi?-)serious music fan and player. You've managed to capture some ineffable feelings I've always had about music, and then gone deeper into it. Really enjoyed reading and re-reading this.
Hadn't listened to Kid Charlemagne until you mentioned it, and now it's rotating in my playlist. Will have to do the other homework.
Among many other thing, it made me think about the difference between listening to music live or recorded, which I'll be mulling over.
Thank you for writing this!
Oscar, thank you! I used to like live music better than studio music, but today, as long as a piece is good, it makes no difference to me. Steely Dan for example were the quintessential studio band, where they would try to perfect a song by being days and night on every little sequence of notes, or by trying, like, thirty different guitarists to pick the one they deem suitable for a solo. Being chosen to play in their song was a testament of supreme skill and creativity. Much like with Miles Davis or Frank Zappa. Glad you liked this!
That's a great point, and so interesting, I didn't know that.
A bit different angle, but reading it made me think of Radiohead's The King of Limbs, where they experimented with the recording a lot, both on the process and the instruments. And then when they had to figure out how to play it live they had to transform the songs.
I liked the record when I first listened to it, but when I heard it live I was completely blown away, it was such a different thing.
And for myself can also think of more transformative experiences in live concerts than listening home (though I've definitely had a few home), but then again that's different from what you're talking about here. Just another thought emanating from your thoughts!
Oh now by reading your response I realize I misinterpreted your point. For some reason I was thinking of the difference between live records and studio records. Anyway. I’m with you on live performances. All the way! And I love your RH example, a band that I put among the ones who create “intelligent” music. :)
Can I curate a playlist of all your essays about music & musicians? You make me nostalgic for decades of music I only wish I was alive for
You sure can! Those were indeed exceptional times, with a level of creativity that honestly I haven’t seen in music since. Thank you Rach!
Another beautiful piece Silvio. Somehow you conjure counterfactual nostalgia with your words, reminiscing for possibilities that never happened.
Thank you, Tai. Glad this resonated. We somehow both wrote about music this week! :)
This was such a nostalgic read for me. I'm more a rhythm guitarist myself, but I felt the same way when I heard David Gilmour's solo in Comfortably Numb, Slash's solo in November Rain and Jimmy Page in Stairway to heaven. Although I don't think I can express my feelings better than Steven has above. Beautiful piece, Silvio.
Oh thank you Sairam. So glad this resonated and brought back memories, good memories that is. Among the ones you mentioned I have to be partial to Jimmy Page in Stairway to Heaven. I grew up with it. :)