Sing with your head up, with your eyes closed

I've been playing the piano since childhood, but never considered it anything more than a hobby, believing that I've never been that great at it. Well all that aside, my challenge this semester has been to memorize and perform a piano solo so I can prove myself at least competent so I can graduate eventually.

Now you see, the biggest difficulty for me has always been memorizing piano songs. Give me multiple songs to sing and I will memorize them no problem, but playing is a different story. It doesn't come quite so naturally.

But since that is the requirement, I have been diligently [..or semi-diligently] practicing. And I've made a strange discovery.

When I perform memorized music I perform it differently then when I am staring at the page. You see, rather than reading what is on the page and striving to reproduce it, the piece flows from me. It's so much more internalized, and therefore easier to perform musically. There's a difference between playing music and making music.

So when I experience this epiphany I suddenly realized why it is important to memorize other important things. Like scripture or great quotes from literature or key concepts in a field of study. The things we memorize become a part of us because we carry them around with us. And they affect how we think and consequently how we act.




Quote of the Day:

Elizabeth Bennet: What a beautiful pianoforte.
Georgiana Darcy: My brother gave it to me. He shouldn't have.
Mr. Darcy: Yes, I should've.
Georgiana Darcy: Oh, very well then.
Mr. Darcy: Easily persuaded, is she not?
Elizabeth Bennet: Your unfortunate brother once had to put up with my playing for a whole evening.
Georgiana Darcy: But he says you play so well.
Elizabeth Bennet: Then he has perjured himself most profoundly.
Mr. Darcy: No I said, "played quite well."
Elizabeth Bennet: Oh, "quite well" is not "very well." I'm satisfied.

-Pride and Prejudice