Anyone who knows me knows that I am an absolute freak when it comes to art music (or mistakenly known as "classical" music, which actually describes a style from a particular era of composition, from around 1600-around 1800). I love love LOVE art music with an absolute passion - the history, the structure, the composers, the different eras, forms, and fusions, the content, the experience, the performance, the power...It's been a major part of me thus far and will always be a part of me for the rest of my life.
My sister-in-law, known as Ms. Suz on this blogsite, just wrote an entry that has inspired me to write in regard to her post, in which she notes her responses when listening to Beethoven and Mozart.
Jazz is one of the most sophisticated art forms that exsists in our world today. I love jazz and the art of jazz, because of it's history, complexity, and musical communication qualities.
The roots of jazz come from African culture, with techinques that are native to Africa such as the call and response, use of complicated rhythms, and incorporation of "blue notes", which are not found in our Western scale. As jazz has metamorphisized and grown over the years, it has embraced more and more music and styles of other cultures (known as "world jazz") and musical forms such as rock and even pop.
Lately I've been reading a book called The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. I am not a tennis player, and no, I don't plan to be. The reason I picked up this book is because of the ideas presented about performance, concentration, and focus. As a musician, these skills are all vital to my vocation, and thus worth reading about and honing.
10/11/07 .
06:53:27 pm .
music, art, poetry, health and nutrition .
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. Send feedback . Work is a great thing when you can work where you want to, and do what you want to. It's wonderful when your occupation is something pleasurable and fulfilling, and when it energizes you. When you can have a wonderful live-in-the-moment Sunday because you are not dreading work on Monday, that's a great job!
How rare is it to find a job that lines up perfectly with your personality type, knowledge base, and happens to be a subject you are passionate about. Some would feel lucky to have a job that fits one of the three aforementioned criteria, and REALLY lucky if it aligned with two! Some find that if they are not "giving back" in any way, it doesn't matter what they are doing, the job is pointless and a waste.
If you are like me, maybe two part-time jobs is the ticket to ultimate fulfillment in the working world. I found that my teaching job fulfilled me in some ways, leaving me empty in others. So, I found another part-time job to fulfill my extrovert needs, as well as showcased my "connector" abilities. Even then, as a musician, I need gigs on the side to fill the performer side of me.
So IS it possible to have one job that fulfills you in every way? I am sure for some people there is. But for people like me who have random desires and talents that do not pull them in one direction, multiple tasks here and there are the way to happiness and satisfaction in the working world.
It's true, I really do love conflict! I know this is a little strange, but let me explain.
First of all, I don't like the fact that I can't avoid conflict. I love relationships, and I love deep ones. But why does conflict have to be a necessary part of them? If I could have meaningful friendships and relationship with my husband without the occasional miscommunication and hurting of each other's feelings, I would take it in a heartbeat!
Secondly, I do not enjoy the feelings of pain and anger when I am hurt or when I have hurt someone. It's too bad feelings and emotions are big parts of conflict.
However, realizing that conflict is unavoidable I decided to embrace it and the opportunities it offers to truly love, forgive and reconcile, and always seek deeper and deeper intimacy with the people in my life.
"Where words fail, music speaks." -Hans Christian Andersen
Music. The language of love, the language of God, the language of the soul. Music is such a gift, the ability to truly speak without words.
I love being a musician. Besides being poor and having limited playing opportunities, music is one of the greatest gifts God has given me, and has greatly increased the quality of my life.
There have been and will be countless times in my life when I find myself unable to speak of how I feel. I thought I was a good communicator, but turns out, being able to talk a lot and relate to people well doesn't mean I can truly communicate and express what is deep down inside. To be able to say with words how circumstances throughout my day really made me feel does not come naturally. In fact, it takes a lot of work and determination on my part.
"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent." -Victor Hugo
Desperate to release my emotions, whether positive, excited, energetic feelings or the depressed, lonely feelings of a disappointed and broken heart, I find my haven in playing. So there I go, in search of a good piano (I don't yet have one of my own) to sit in solitude for as long as I need, my soul crying out through the colors and timbres of those melodies. Or, I pick up my flute and pull out my favorite pieces I have played throughout the years, or excerpts of my favorite symphonies I have performed with friends in the past. Sometimes the music just comes and trickles out of my fingers, not from the notes and staff from the printed page, but from the wordless language imprinted on my heart.
"Music is the vernacular of the human soul." -Frederick Delius
Too often as I play, I have to stop and let myself cry for a while, or rejoice in the reflection of a good, warm memory. I am finally feeling what I could not express earlier, my heart saying through my music what my voice cannot through words.
"Music is an outburst of the soul." -Geoffrey Latham
Music is my prayer, my offering, and my outlet of communication. I know myself better, God better, and through music allow myself to feel things I normally would ignore or feel scared to feel.
"...God gave us music that we might pray without words." -Anonymous
And He did that for me.