Friendship Concert

This Sunday I had the privilege of attending a concert near Louisville, Kentucky. The concert, The Friendship Concert, part of a 5 day workshop, brings together teachers and students of different backgrounds and ethnic groups in a Suzuki tradition, in memory to the vision of the founder of the Suzuki method Dr. Shinichi Suzuki. The concert this year featured twenty Suzuki students with a variety of teachers, a showcase and challenge of not only the student’s skill but of the teacher’s methods as well. The ages of the students ranged from age 5 to 18, the difficulty of the piece often reflected by the age. The pieces played also had a hint of ethnic diversity, containing a plethora of ethnicity in composers; ranging from Clementi from Rome, England’s Bayly, Danish Kuhlao, Poland’s Chopin, Rachmaninoff from Russia, all around European Mozart, and then an unbalanced hand full of Germans, Lichner, Bach and Beethoven. The pieces, as their composers and the students playing them, were unique and, for the most part, very well played. It was quite enjoyable.
It always amazes me, the art of music. The language it speaks to those that listen. Each musician brings out music differently; it would be a mistake indeed to assume all that is done is to play what is written. Like reading a book aloud, one can read the words easily enough; it is the emotion and expression that the reader adds to the words, their own invention, that makes it worth listening to. Music is an art, the playing of it just as much as the composing. There are those that take what is written and follow it exactly but they lack what it takes to make the music come alive, they paint a dull picture without color or vibrancy; it draws no emotion, it is boring and bland. They may have the best technique; they may read music perfectly, may understand every concept and may still lack the spark, the emotion, to turn music into something truly beautiful. It is a wonderful thing to listen to those who have captured the art of music, that paint a picture so stunning that is takes your breath away, that can play the music that lifts your spirits and can also paint a picture with music so poignant and melancholy that it can break your heart and leave you in tears. I will never cease to enjoy this language, this art.