My grandfather died recently (he was 105, so he was not exactly cut down in the prime of life, but we were pretty close), and I found myself wanting to play my flute even more than usual. Of course, the focus was slow airs, laments and haunting melodies, but I also played some other tunes that he liked.
It made me wonder though: what makes you decide to play? Do you play more when you are happy or sad? Dance tunes for joy? Or do you play dance tunes when you are sad, in an effort to overcome the mood? If you are lonely, do you get out the flute for company? I’d like to know.
Griff
(Edited for clarification–I really should proof read these first.)
when I don’t play, it’s a confirmation to myself that I’m going thru some down period, usually what I’m feeling good I play.
I don’t think I can change my mood by playing, I may, by listening to music.
today, I both played and listened and life is good, I’m sure it will suck tomorrow
eilam.
Learning the flute has come to represent something very positive in my life. Though I do enjoy playing, I really like the sense of accomplishment I feel during a serious practice session (or playing session with others–not that this happens much in China mind you). I set a goal, and I’m working toward it with discipline–is it the Dhali Lama that talks about the “work of happiness” and how discipline is really the source of happiness for us? I don’t know, it makes me feel useful, and elevated, perhaps even noble at times.
I hope I don’t stop or die any time soon; I’ve got a lot of music ahead of me.
Matt
I like the sense of accomplishment that comes from internalizing a new tune. They’re great (tunes, that is). They come in extremely brief but satisfying morsels, and provide a friendly learning curve. They can be challenging, and then become your best friend when you nail 'em.
I enjoy both performing and playing with other folks. I’m also a guitarist, but only a bedroom rock star. It’s so much more satisfying to share one’s music.
I have had that experience – when something is overwhelming, just playing notes – not complete tunes, but just riffs and scales – is something I have to do. It certainly speaks to the power of music and art to speak to a part of us that nothing else can get to. Even though your grandfather was old, and it sounds as though he had a good life, I know that doesn’t make it any easier, Griff. You miss him a lot, I bet, and that speaks to the relationship you had with him.
So to me, practicing is something I do for my health – like exercise and eating healthy food. If I don’t do it for a while, I start feeling icky. (Now, if I could only start exercising and eating healthy food!)
With minimum precautions, your flute will never die and be gone forever. It’s always within reach, waiting for you to share your mood. It’s your friend even when you hate it. It’s safe to love it with all your heart. it’s one of the purest relationships in your life.
As I just said on the whistle board, I play to as a way of sharing my emotions. I play best when I’m feeling something; I can’t play when I’m bored. Playing is my way of satisfying my soul, and perhaps touching a few others’ too. Music makes me complete, and gives me an inner peace and joy, no matter what.
What an awesome thread!
Ditto all of the above for me.
I’ll paraphrase some of the above from my own experience (and since I can’t see the thread right now):
I don’t play because I want to, but because I have to. If I didn’t make music, I would surely go insane. It is my therapy.
The music is on the inside - playing just lets it out. (I like that one. )
And one from singer/songwriter Billy Jonas:
“Music comes from – but mostly through – you”
On the sense of accomplishment from internalizing a new tune:
I’ve found that tunes find me – not the other way around. Often I discover tunes by reading sheet music, online, or stuff I’ve had for a while. I’ll just be reading through some stuff, and suddenly one tune just attaches itself to me - like a parasite, and won’t let go until I can get it out. Each tune that I really know has its own personality, it’s own space, its own dimensionality, its own shape in my hands, its own emotion …
You can never forget the ones that imprint themselves on you like that.
Good God - what am I doing typing – I’m gonna go play!!
I play because I get enjoyment out of my playing, and so do others. It makes me glad to brighten up someone else’s day.
Also, I like how different pieces can make you smile, come can make you dance, and some can make you want to cry. A different mood is tied into each song.
I was a child of a large working class (extended) family of industrious Scotts on one side and Irish on the other. I had to work. At 10 or 11 years old I graduated into a paper route of 42 customers. We handed down jobs as people used to hand down clothes when they grew out of them. My family lived in northern West Virginia among the Scottish clan (McIntosh) and my Irish relatives from southern West Virginia always stopped at our place prior to catching the train—it was a railroad center. A lot of the boys found their way out of the back woods by becoming a merchant mariner. They always stopped at our house and kept me spell bound with stories of the sea. One of them was Dink Coagher. As soon as Dink got his sea bag settled in he would go to the woods and find the right elderberry bush and selectively cut a stem to length. He cleaned and drilled it out and soon had a flute. Off he would go to catch the train to Baltimore.
I could not stop playing the flute, missed customers all the time. I had to pay for the papers that I forgot to deliver, couldn’t remember who I missed. I had to get jobs cutting grass and other things to break even on the paper route. I couldn’t quit the job as delivery boy, and sit around and play my flute, that would be lazy. Now I am lazy and sit around and play the flute. Can’t stop my self.
For me this is the whole point of the existence of music, and both the satisfaction of playing and need to play.
Music exists to communicate what words cannot. If I could say it, I wouldn’t be a musician.
As the most abstract of the arts, it’s the best suited to the task. Dance can come close, but it is (usually) predicated upon music. Of all the plastic arts, only architecture uses time, but it does so in a very different way than music.
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