favoritequotes

"What is music? And how does it express itself? It does so very simply, through sound, which is actually air. (It was Busoni who said that it was 'only air'.) ....The strongest element of sound to me is the silence before it, and the silence afterwards.....I think constantly about the way a sound begins, and how to sustain it, for the continuity of sound is probably one of the main difficulties in a musical performance.

It requires a certain amount of energy to produce a sound --- and in so doing you come into contact with the silence preceding it --- but it requires a lot more energy to sustain a sound at the same level. It is, in fact, an equivalent of the law of gravity: you need a lot more energy to hold an object in the air than you need to pick it up...

The end notes of a phrase are just as important as the first notes. Finishing a phrase carelessly is almost like letting the oxygen run out, and having to inhale before you can continue. It is as physical as that. Life exists through the ever-repeated process of inhaling and exhaling air, and music is really sonorous air."

-- A Life in Music by Daniel Barenboim

Chopin’s G minor Ballade, Op. 23 (1831-5)

A look inside

Largo, 4/4

"A noble C climbs four octaves in A flat and touches a high C (C6) before descending by graceful turns into G minor, the true key of the Ballade. In its lilting, fragile beauty, the statement of the opening phrase contains the germ material for the rest of the opus. Often one finds in the earliest measures a clue to understanding a work as a whole, and in that sense and for the purpose of analysis, much of the music can be considered a theme and variations. A rhythm of 6/4 suggests an underlying waltz, as does the set of chords that plays off each melody note. Further, the chords lie under portamento slurs which give them shape, gently tug at the second and third beats, and increase the inherent dance quality. However, a waltz in G minor is colored by the key and therefore imbued with a tender poignancy. One dances, but with a heavy heart..." Read more

-- Beth Levin, January 2003, La Folia Online Music Review

Spring, 2005

"Engage the learner joyfully and you will get results."

- - - Eric Jensen

Why music? "Sound is one of the major sources of brain stimuli that maintains mental vitality. The nucleus basalis is the part of the brain that gives affective meaning to auditory input and codes it in our memory. Music plays a vital role in the development of emotional intelligence and memory storage. The corpus callosum, the bridge between the left and right sides of the brain, has been found to be thicker in musicians than in non-musicians, suggesting that music may enlarge neural pathways and stimulate learning and creativity. The corpus callosum completes its development by age 11. The cerebellum, the area of the brain involved in rhythm, has also been found to be larger in musicians. Music experience does alter the brain."

(From Building an Inclusive Music Community for Students of All Ages and Abilities,

Dr. Mary Ann Froehlich, p. 18)

"It was a dark and stormy night: dark, because the sun had just set like a giant flaming hen squatting upon her unkempt nest that was the gritty urban streets; stormy, because the weather had rolled in like an angry fat man driving his Rascal into a Ryan's Steak House and then finding out that the "all you can eat" dessert bar had an out-of-order frozen yogurt machine." Suddenly, a shot rang out, as shots are wont to do.....

I heard the rap on the door....She came in like a centipede with 98 missing legs......She had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a few days......"

"From thirty feet away, she looked like a lot of class. From ten feet away, she looked like something made up to be seen from thirty feet away....."

--- Mark Schweizer,

The Baritone Wore Chiffon, A Liturgical Mystery

Music....a means of communication between people ... a satisfying channel of personal expression. Music is one of the most sublime of human pursuits, and is subscribed to by all races and creeds. Its use promotes understanding, friendliness and sympathy among all people. Through music, the composer [and performer] express(es) a variety of moods; the listener experiences a mystical awareness that transports him from the cares and troubles that beset humanity. Music is the language of all peoples."

---National Federation of Music Clubs,

National Music Week, (May 7-14, 2006)

The Artist, 1911: "Color

is a means of exerting

direct influence upon

the soul. Color is the

keyboard. The eyes

are the hammers. The

soul is the piano, with

its many strings. The

artist is the hand that

plays touching one key

or another purposefully

to cause vibrations in

the soul. It is evident therefore that color harmony must rest ultimately on purposeful playing upon the human soul."

-- Kandinsky, Wassily, (1866-1944),

Russian-born artist and one of the first creators of pure ab straction in modern painting. Also, an accomplished musician. The concept that color and musical harmony are linked has a long history, intriguing scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton. Kandinsky used color in a highly theoretical way associating tone with timbre (the sound's character), hue with pitch, and saturation with the volume of sound. He even claimed that when he saw color he heard music.

MOMA, audio tour guide.

Dear Miss Amy

By Carolyn K. May, 1997

Every week you made me smile

With some silly little antic

making me feel all the while

Not the least bit frantic

I always knew when I came in

No matter how bad my playing had been

You found something good in what I did

You were always positive in the way you lived

You were always patient, never hurrying

You were never critical, only encouraging

You made each piece of music

Become more than just a sheet

That was full of notes

And had a rhythmic beat

You made it come alive, before my very eyes

It became a boat, drifting on a lake

It became the sun, setting down late

It was a loud lion roaring

Or a seagull softly soaring

It was a walk in Paris, France

Or a lovely moonlight dance

You gave to me the key

That opened up the door

To the wonderful world of music

And I found what laid in store

Later, years to come

When I sit down at the piano

Laying my fingers on the black and white keys,

I'll start to play a song

But I won't see empty lines filled with notes

I'll see a blue harbor with sailing boats

I'll hear a gull crying from the sea

And I'll remember you

And everything you taught me.

Perseverance

(Excerpt from a letter from my Mother while away from home at Fine Arts School, Age 14)

" . . . Think of a baby chick inside the egg. When it gains a certain level of maturity, it begins to peck its way out of the shell. It pecks and pecks, growing stronger and stronger. If it didn't try to get out, it would eventually use up the nourishment in the egg and die . . .

. . . On the other hand, if one tries to intervene and crack the egg himself, the chick will also die. It isn't strong enough yet.

. . . So, little by little, the pecking is rewarded. Finally, the shell gives way when the chick is strong enough to live in its new environment.

. . . It's the same with us. There is no short-cut to success in life. You must be willing to struggle. To suffer. To deny yourself. To come back after failure. To grow. To believe in your success."

The Butterfly

(An e-mail from a friend; author unknown)

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little tiny hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So, the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!

In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that this was God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. The restricting cocoon and the struggle required was necessary for the butterfly to get through the opening to be able to fly. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!

"How do we move to accomplish musical results? .... the how-to of interpretation? People think of technic and music as two separate things, but the two are actually one. There is no separation. It is fascinating that the principles of coordinate movement are also shown to govern such musical components as tone production, phrasing, timing, color and rhythmic excitement. There is never any conflict between moving well and achieving an artistic result."

-- Comments made by Pianist/Pedagogue, Edna Golandsky,

Director of The Golandsky Piano Institute. Quote from article by Adrienne Sirken and Patricia Powell