The discussion is always the same: what is preferable, to hear music life and perhaps not in the best of quality - humans are prone to failure. Or to hear a disc, preferably the best orchestra in the world and sit in your drawing room, to hear Karajan and the Wiener Philharmoniker working through Mahler...?
For me both is possible, with a very clear preference for making music myself.
When I was a child, it was one of my greatest aspirations to become an operasinger and play the andpiano.And this I did, getting on the nerves of everyone at home, playing for hours on our not very good old piano ( my grandmother got it as payment for one of her pictures - also a way of paying..) and singing my heart out. I remember my grandfather sitting and patiently hearing - he could not escape, as he walked veery badly. This must have been in the early 1970ies.
Later in boarding school, I often went off and played around in the various pianos which were available in the classrooms. My godmother payed me some lessons with a not very inspiring teacher and I learnt to play Bartok pieces for children - not my cup of tea. When I showed up and played for her beethoven´s " Für Elise" she got grumpy and that was that. Later, again at home I had the piano tuned, as far this was possible and learnt the piano by myself and never came as far as to see some progress in some Chopin Mazurkas and Waltzes. I am still grateful for the nerves of my family and friends..
Singing was one of my passions from early on, but I never would have had the guts to persue a career in music - not gifted enough and not determined enough. I did enjoy some stardom though in the choir of the boardingschool and the memory of singing concerts in the monasteries church are the one I cherish most from my school days with the brave Soeurs in Altötting.
Only some years later I had the luck to join a choir, which was "training" for a production of the H-Moll Messe by JSBach - I never had heard the piece before and when we had the last big rehearsal before the performance, it blew my heart and head off - this was music indeed and the feeling of melting into something other than a human crowd singing together was a great experience.
Then came children and moves and only very late, in Ankara a small group of collegues started to sing Christmas Carols - which was great fun and a wonderful pasttime.
Now I sing for quite a time already in a choir here in Brussels, and it gives me still great joy.
We "do" a concert every month and sing only Johann Sebastian Bach - cantatas. Perhaps you have heard, if you happen to live in Brussels, of the Chapelle des Minimes? Well, that´s us. Passionate amateurs, almost a substitute family, lovely friends, help in many dark times. If not this what would have become of me?
Making music in an ensemble is such a joy, abbandoning oneself into a group and becoming something different - communion indeed. In the summer we have started to celebrate the birthday of a friend in a small group, resinging pieces of the saison´s programm just for our own pleasure - last year on our terrasse, we even got applause from the neighbours!
If you want, check out: www.minimes.net - there is a free concert every month from september until june!
You are absolutely right about the joy of making music. No matter if you get the level of giving concerts or if you just do it privately for yourself. I was forced to learn the piano, when I was little and I was able to read notes before I could read letters. But the real joy of music came, when my husband bought me the treble recorder. I started to play duets with a very good friend and this was really fun. Sometimes we laughed our heads off and often we experienced a real flow, we got taken away by the peace, forgetting everything around us, asking ourselves afterwards: "Where were we...?"
ReplyDelete