While teaching a teenage student of mine who is working on the first movement of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” I found myself saying to him that we, piano-players, are “perfected in the struggle” as we work on our latest and most challenging piece of music, whatever that may be.
This is to draw a loose analogy to a rolling stone that becomes smoother and smoother the more it rolls down a long, craggy hill that erodes its imperfections. The hill itself is working upon the stone as the stone rolls over it, smoothing out the stone by the end of the journey.
In a similar way, we always think of ourselves as “working on” a piece of challenging sheet music, but the piece is also in some way “working on” us, and turning us into the piano players that we need to be in order to play and master the piece, and meet the demands of its art.
This means that players will make the adjustments needed to play the most challenging piece one has ever played lately. It can mean everything from increased daily practice time to reviewing all theory essentials learned up to that point and picking up new concepts.
Finally, this is why playing such a high level piece, when one is ready for it, can be such a transformative experience and make us come out stronger and come back to our earlier pieces with an enhanced sense of skill, discernment, and confidence.
Hi! I’m Isabel Marcheselli, NCTM, an artist teacher. If you liked this post, please “like,” “favorite,” leave a comment, or “share” it with others to show your support – it really helps me to reach others out there – thanks! Also follow this blog and visit my links at: https://linktr.ee/marchesellimusic
