Musician's perspective of music: An editorial essay

This post varies from my established course of informational yet entertaining ;-) music articles.  Please comment freely and often, I am truly interested in what you have to say about this topic…

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My ProTools teacher and I (both non-professional performing musicians ourselves) got into a short yet fervent discussion tonight about musicians’ perspectives on performing music.  I am a French horn player and he a bass player in a rock band.  Our discussion got me thinking, and I wanted to share with you:

He had recently overheard a conversation between two women, one of whom was talking about how relieved she was to have finally quit her job. She was a Broadway performer, but was so burnt out that the day had come she just had to quit entirely.  

She was saying how people always asked her if she still sang "for herself...just for enjoyment" and she said she always had to explain that no, she never did, because singing was not actually enjoyable for her.  She had been burned, scarred for life, against one of the most naturally enjoyable activities because of a lifetime of being forced onstage.

We all want to believe that musicians play music because they love it so much that they never want to be anywhere else rather than playing for us, all the time.  We pay a lot of money to go to a concert and want to be entertained (which we wouldn't be if we thought even for a minute the performer was not happy to be there), yet this simply cannot be the case.

I also very sincerely want to believe that surgeons performs surgery and saves lives every day because they love it so much they can’t put the scalpel down. But seriously, after 1,000 or so appendectomies, it must lose some of its luster.

While we are watching these musicians onstage we are so absorbed (hopefully) in the performance that it probably never crosses our mind that perhaps that person might rather be doing something else.  

It’s hard for us in the audience to fully understand that for a professional musician, music is their full-time job. Music performance serious business, keeps food on the table and roof over their heads.  God forbid they sprain a finger or break an arm!

Not to say that musicians do not enjoy performing, but what if they perform because they do not know anything different?  I wonder sometimes with classical musicians especially, if (some) were ever given the opportunity to try their hand at something different.

Consider the difference between how different types of musicians come to discover music.  The top classical artists, performing across the world with the greatest orchestras, very possibly/probably started on their instrument before they could even read.  Some even start about the same time they're learning to talk.

Before you start thinking one thing or another about me, this warrants a disclaimer: I grew up in a very musical household (my father still teaches music in NH and has a fantastic program), and when I turned 5 was given the choice between violin and piano (Note: I was not asked ‘DO you want to play music?) I chose violin and promptly began weekly lessons.  

Also, my parents were never pushy stage parents nor did they ever even proverbially lock me in a practice room for 6 hours a day, but they did understand the virtue of learning music from a young age.  For that I am grateful, not only did it teach me many things about responsibility and self-motivation, but I also developed a great ear which helped me immensely later on with the Horn.  If I got 10 minutes a day they considered themselves lucky! I also played soccer, was a girl scout, horse riding lessons, did arts and crafts, softball, etc.

Back on topic: Let's consider the path rock/pop/etc (let’s call them ‘contemporary’) musicians take to discovering music.  Most parents do not thrust a guitar into their 3 year olds’ hands with the hopes that they will become the next great rock and roll god or goddess.  No, these musicians come to music on their own volition, perhaps saving allowance money to buy a guitar and starting with a band in their parents’ garage as teenagers.

Compare that to how many parents around the world thrust a tiny 1/16 or 1/32 size violin (violins come in many sizes ranging from 1/32 to full) into their toddlers’ chubby paws, sign them up for Suzuki lessons and pray every night that they will become the next Jascha Heifetz?  

Just the fact that a sickeningly small 1/32 size violin is even in regular production is enough to prove my point.

As you can see from my ‘disclaimer’ paragraph above, I do see the merit to starting children on music when their young brains are total sponges, but do you KNOW how small a 1/32 size violin is?? Crazy. OK maybe it's bigger than the violin pictured above - I guess that's the still-in-the-womb-size instrument (kidding). But still, let’s learn colors, shapes and numbers first!

This difference in how artists discover music must affect how they perceive music and how they see themselves.   Do these artists that are pressured into music ever have the opportunity to try their hand at say, (in honor of the World Cup) soccer?  What if they are actually the next David Beckham?  They might never set foot on a soccer pitch to find out. And yes, maybe I did want to mention David Beckham just so I could include a picture of him in my blog...

Then, by the time they are old enough to form their own opinions - about the same time that the ‘contemporary’ musicians are coming of age with secondhand guitars in their parent’s basements - I wonder how much choice they truly have.  If you spend your whole life only truly knowing one reality, how can you really comprehend and experience the real world? (Yes Neo, I got all “Matrix” on you… I went there).

Another obvious distinction between the classical and ‘contemporary’ musicians is the music they perform.  Most of the classical musicians mostly play music written by some long-dead European man with a white beard. Audiences like them, those pieces sell tickets. Heck they’ve been around for 120 years, I’d hope people like it by now.  But I digress, that’s an article for another day…

On the other hand, ‘contemporary’ musicians (unless they are in a cover band) are playing songs they themselves wrote, with lyrics that mean something to them personally and touch their heart in some way.  Most classical musicians of course play music that resonates with their tastes and personalities and they undoubtedly know the score of their favorite concerti inside and out; but the performance experience is entirely different than that of someone performing a song they wrote while they were in a hospital bed or recovering from a difficult breakup.

Brahms et al are long dead, so we can’t even ask them for their interpretation of their music. Therefore, like the cover band mentioned above, a violinist performing the Brahms Violin Concerto, will always be an outsider looking in, taking what they can glean, and - if they are good - adding their own personal touches here and there. 

Yet even though they will never see and experience the music from the inside out, it does not detract from the fact that they are amazing musicians.  The ability to take someone else’s written notes on a page and turn them into music is an extraordinary talent.  I am not simply trying to butter up to those classical musicians among us; remember I am one of you!

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This topic has been swirling around in my mind for some time now, and it feels good to get it out. I look forward to hearing what you all have to say. 

Thank you for reading all the way down to here. You’re a trooper.

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Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom.  If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn.  ~Charlie Parker