Weasiest Way to Get a Music Credit in College Easiest Art Credit
I was exterior of the Conservatory the other twenty-four hours when I ran into my friend Devin, a third-year double-degree student (in computer science and composition). He asked me what slice I was learning this semester on the pianoforte. "Chopin'south Nocturne in East-Flat Major," I told him. "The second one, the famous one."
"Nice," he nodded. "That's a beautiful piece."
"Yeahhhhhh," I started to agree. The truth is, information technology used to exist my all-fourth dimension favorite song on the piano - gave me goosebumps when I listened to information technology, sometimes made me drop a tear. Merely now? "I don't know. I feel similar because I've been learning it and practicing it all semester, it's lost a lot of its magic."
"Wow, I'k sorry," Devin said, looking genuinely distressing. "That'south really sad."
I shrugged. "It's just the way it is."
And somehow I'm okay with it. Information technology didn't accept me long to realize, later starting secondary lessons in the Con, that when you learn a piece - fifty-fifty if it's the about beautiful, kinetic, awe-inspiring music you've ever heard in your life - inevitably yous take out its mystery. You have to: In the process of breaking it down, you're discovering the twists and turns of the music that arrive so powerful.
And Chopin'south Nocturne is no dissimilar, unfortunately. At present when I mind to Arthur Rubinstein's rendition of information technology (the all-time rendition, in my opinion), I don't feel the climatic build-upwards at three:25, nor practice I experience the familiar goosebumps when the piece drops at three:36. I hear the precision of his trills, and wonder how can I do that?? I hear the quickness of his left hand - the subtleties of his chords - and experience agitated that my left hand sounds so clunky and distracting when I play it.
Practicing my piece on ane of the Con'due south several hundred Steinway pianos (because those are what we have in the do rooms. I know. I'yard so spoiled). I tried to take i of those really ballsy photos of pianoforte hands oh-and so-wrought with artistic emotion, only presently discovered that my grade is abysmal - all of my photos but came out with my wrists bent or my pinky finger sticking out awkwardly. Plus it doesn't even look like I'm playing anything in most of my photos - my easily wait oddly yet, and kind of old, if that'southward possible. Oh well! Equally far every bit you know, I sounded like Arthur Rubinstein aka sheer genius. We'll take to find Ness to tape it. :)
Earlier I started taking piano, I had always imagined the Conservatory students to accept information technology so adept - I mean, for their homework, they get to play guitar, or jam on their saxophone, or sing songs! What fun! Compared to sitting in lab for four hours studying the optical properties of minerals, or discussing Lucretian theories of democracy and politics, I would play piano whatever mean solar day.
But after virtually three years of pianoforte at Oberlin, I empathize just how naïve this is. Playing music for credit is not "easy" or "fun" or "magical" or "lucky." Mostly, it'due south really freakin' hard. It requires you to choice apart your piece, play every little segment over and over, dissect it, tinker with it, cry over information technology, experience completely lame about it, then get over yourself and start practicing once again. You accept to be precise and diligent, creative and robotic. And so - after all of this - y'all have to re-discover the emotional beauty in the piece, and use it in your performance.
Yep, adept luck with that. There'south no way, right?
Except that then many people here can do that, and do it every semester. I swear, from but my 2-credit piano lessons, I've gained an entirely new respect for the musicians hither at Oberlin. I honestly don't know how they practise it - how they play their music with such bravery and intensity, don't buckle under the pressure level. You have to be such a strong and confident individual to exist successful in the Conservatory. Don't go me wrong, you lot have to be strong and confident to exist successful in just near anything you do - but with music, there's a deeper emotional component to your failures and successes. If you neglect a chemistry test, it'due south considering you either didn't study plenty, or merely aren't that adept at chemistry (the latter of which is totally understandable). But if you fail at music, it can say something about your character. It could be because you didn't practise enough - only, more terrifyingly, it could be because yous aren't resilient plenty. Mastering chemistry requires diligence and smarts, but mastering a pianoforte slice requires diligence and smarts, plus creativity, plus the immense chapters to both overcome emotional hurdles, and, simultaneously, to use that emotional component to bring the music alive.
This is Margarita Rovenskaya, my student pianoforte teacher I had for three semesters. She always managed to bring a huge smile to my lessons, and motivated me to practice, while also making sure that I had fun and was happy. I admire Rita in more ways than I can say. Photograph cred to Hannah Kalson.
Earlier this semester, I told my friend Adrian Jewell (fourth-year double-degree in neuroscience and piano performance) about my fears of "ruining" Chopin's Nocturne by playing it.
"I'm afraid I won't practise it justice," I told him back in September. "Or, fifty-fifty worse, that I won't like the slice anymore, that it will be ruined forever if I endeavor to larn how to play it."
He nodded. "Yeah, you lot probably will," he said matter-of-factly. "Simply you know, that'southward okay. You'll gain a new appreciation for it. You'll hear someone play it at a party, or a recital, and you lot'll hear the beautiful ways in which they play their trills, or how seamlessly they make the transitions, and you personally will sympathize how difficult information technology is to exercise that. Yous'll hear the piece in a brand-new way."
And so I have. And I call back that'southward worth much more than than just ii credits.
Source: https://www.oberlin.edu/blogs/so-you-want-hear-about-my-easiest-class-college