Meeting each other in the middle, featuring everyone's favorite Bach piece (well, not mine...)

Play me!

I love playing chamber music, and collaborative performances in general. I think it's because of performers like the one above, Anner Bylsma - what a dream it would be to play with such a talented musician. I think chamber music is the ultimate form of communication between human beings. Words need not be spoken; I can hear and understand intent based on the speed of the bow, the intensity of sound, or the ever-so-subtle gesture before the music begins. Reading these cues is incredibly important, and can make or break a performance. Sometimes this collaboration is an affirming experience. A few months ago I played a duo recital with a friend from graduate school. We've played several recitals together, which always requires an enormous amount of time at the instrument. At some point during our work we always say, "It's so nice to play with someone who has the same training." Why do we say this? Because a lot of our instincts are similar, as is the way in which we approach problem solving. In "music-speak" this means it's easier to match articulations. We approach different styles with a similar knowledge and understanding. When we disagree (and we do), it's easier to understand the other person's point of view. Most of the time.

Sometimes the experience is challenging, especially when playing with musicians with a completely different outlook on playing and interpretation. Believe it or not, this would perfectly explain my husband and me. We met in music school when I was a piano major and he was a cellist. I began playing with his piano trio in my sophomore year, and inevitably, I became his accompanist. Funny, how that words. The interesting this is that even though we clearly got along well as people we COMPLETELY disagreed on many musical ideas. We fought over Brahms, Prokovief and Beethoven with fervor, baby. While sometimes annoying, this challenged my perceptions of compositions, forced me to explain my viewpoint and to stand firm on my decisions. Character building, really. In the end, we had to meet in the middle and make the best decision for what the music demanded. Sometimes we chose one person's way or the other, and sometimes we came up with something completely different. It's what made the process both fun and meaningful.

That's just one of the many examples of how music is an illustration of life. There are an infinite number of view points on any given subject. The process of discussing them with others can be affirming or challenging, or a little of both. Or neither, I suppose. Today I was chatting via email with a friend about the unfortunate propensity for communities (we were speaking in particular about church, but it applies to others) to be either left leaning or right leaning; liberal or conservative; traditional or modern. We are always forcing people to choose. Why do we do this? I'm sure we've all seen the studies saying that people are naturally attracted to those who are more like themselves, although there are people who purposeful choose to surround themselves with people who are nothing like them. Which one of these people are you? Perhaps you have one foot in both category, or you dance back and forth in between.

This idea plays a huge part in society today in politics, religion, and just about everything else we do. Are we afraid to be alone in our thoughts, or do we simply have in intense need for homogeneous community? Do we enjoy making fun of or persecuting people who aren't like us, thereby making ourselves feel better about who we are, or are we simply afraid that we will be laughed at? Or do we just not care?

I have a rather diverse group of close friends and family - Christian, libertarian, responsible, gay, those who believe in God but can't stand religion, liberal, straight, Jewish, independent, irresponsible, intelligent, conservative, no common sense whatsoever...those are a lot of adjectives, but I actually I have few very close friends and an average size family. They are all just a mix of those things. I purposefully left out ethnicity or color because I could care less. A friend is a friend and a jerk is a jerk, no matter what color they are. Do I love the company and conversation of like minded individuals? You betcha. But as a musician, I MUST surround myself with different ideas or the music suffers. If I listen to the same recording over and over again, when I try to play that particular piece all I will hear in my mind is that one rendition, and it will be almost impossible for me to form my own interpretation.

The same goes with other aspects of life. If I only surround myself with people just like me, I will deny myself growth in ways I cannot possibly imagine. How can I form my own opinion if I only listen to the same idiots over and over again? And let's face, it, everybody's an idiot for at least a short period of time. And yet we can only take so much of someone we disagree with who refuses to acknowledge any way of thinking except their own. The real key in this, I think, is learning how to listen to other people. I don't have to agree with you. I don't even have to like what you're saying. But we could at least afford each other the dignity and respect of being treated like someone who has some value. In the grand scheme of things, that's really not too much to ask. Sometimes we believe in something so fiercely that any compromise of our position feels like a compromise of our ideals and sometimes even a compromise of who we truly are. Does this mean that I cannot stand firmly beside someone else who feels the exact opposite and respect them? Something to ponder and strive for. While thinking on these things through the day, I ran across a blog post by Rachel Evans - a great writer - about exactly the same idea called Liberal Christianity, Conservative Christianity, and the Caught-In-Between. If you'd like, you can read it here.

The divisions in today's society are, frankly, nauseating. For me, music seems to be the only place I feel I can be myself and communicate with freedom and abandon. Too bad I play an instrument most of the modern world has no interest in hearing. But that's ok, too -there's still some hope for that. In the end, it's not the instrument that's most important, but the music. If we could all get over ourselves enough to let the message come before the messenger, perhaps we'd live in a much better world.

Up bow, down bow, hook then ricochet...whatever floats your boat. Just say something worth hearing, then put your bow down and listen to me, too.

Now, play the same piece as above, played by the same performer in a later recording, but in a totally different interpretation: