Music and The Muse
Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach
I’ve been playing notes on the piano since I was three years old. Maybe younger. At three I officially began music lessons with my grandmother who was a concert pianist and pedagogy teacher. Piano is part of my soul. It is, in many ways, an inseparable part of me. And lately I’ve been playing music (for me) at the end of each day.
It isn’t always good. I’ve never been a natural musician. I struggle with technique and have performance anxiety. Beyond that, beyond the foul notes and clunky rhythms, there is joy and something I can’t quite express any other way.
What Georgia O’Keeffe says about art, I feel with my music: “I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for.” I find I can say things with notes and sounds that I can’t say any other way. Truthfully, playing music is a safe space to say everything I need to say.
“Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.” Victor Hugo. How very true, Victor.
While I wait for responses to queries and do final edits on a book I’m publishing later this year, I need a different way to express myself. This week I discovered a Chopin Mazurka in A minor. Op. 17 No. 4 is moody and sotto voce. Here’s a link to Josh Wright playing it better than I can.
I’m also learning Chopin Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72, No. 1. Tiffany Poon plays it so beautifully. Can you tell I love Chopin? Be still my heart. Over the years I’ve played about 15 or 20 Etudes, Nocturnes, Waltzes and Preludes by Chopin.
And every time I sit down at the piano I (try to) play Enrique Grenados’ La Maja y el Riusenor. I memorized it a few years ago because it spoke to me in so many ways. Maybe someday I’ll play it for you. Meanwhile, here’s a link to music that speaks to me when I’m not writing.
Most of us have an emotional connection to music, but, because yours is rooted in family and childhood, I'm sure it's strong and deep. Play on, Tracey, and keep writing, too.