The here and now“It is a mark of soulfulness to be present in the here and now. When we are present, we are not fabricating inner movies. We are seeing what is before us.” – John Bradshaw (1992) Creating Love: The Next Great Stage of Growth. United States: Bantam Books, p.127.
White ChristmasAccounts vary on where Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas”. Berlin himself even recall differing circumstances on when it was penned. Some sources claim at was written at the poolside in Aizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix. Other accounts state that is was in Beverly Hills, California. In any case, the narration is set in […]
Mozart on Craft“People are mistaken, if they think that my art has come easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has devoted so much effort in the study of composition as have I. There is scarcely a famous master in must whose works I have not diligently, and often repeatedly, studied.” – Mozart, in […]
A musical solution“Every disease is a music problem, its cure a musical solution.” Novalis, 18th century German author, mystic and philosopher. Cited in: Inge Kjemtrup, “The power of music therapy”, Pianist, Issue 59, April-May 2011. Warners Group Publications, p.66.
Joe Hisaishi on the score of The Boy and the Heron“I did not want to describe emotions or scenes through music. I wanted to be at a certain distance from the story and the characters, and I wanted to be in between the actual story and what we see on the screen, and the viewers, in terms of writing the music.” — Joe Hisaishi T. […]
Perahia on BeethovenMurray Perahia initially found Beethoven hard to understand: “I was always working on Beethoven, but I couldn’t feel close to him. For nearly ten years I didn’t altogether like his music because I felt it showed an aggressive, up-front personality.” But after studying, performing, and recording Beethoven (Appasionata,op. 2, op. 101 and the Piano Concertos), […]
The double life of an artistPeople are mistaken thinking that the creative artist uses art to express what he feels at the very moment of experience. Joy and sorrow are feelings expressed retrospectively. Without any particular cause for rejoicing I can be immersed in a mood of happy creativity and, conversely, I can produce, when cheerful, a piece saturated in […]
Mood lighting to boost creativityA study published in the Journal of Environmental Psychology has concluded that the level of lighting in a room can impact the level of creative thinking. Anna Steidle and Lioba Werth concluded that “darkness increases freedom from constraints, which in turn promotes creativity.” A dark environment “elicits a feeling of freedom, self-determination, and reduced inhibition, […]
Rachmaninoff on interpretationAs the talented student grows older he must seek within himself his interpretation. Does he wish to know how to play the cantilena of Beethoven or Chopin? He must feel it himself! Talent is feeling, the feeling that every player experiences in his innermost consciousness… It takes years of work to understand and think out […]
Conducting glovesThe practice of wearing white gloves whilst conducting was common in the nineteenth century. The Musical times reported in July 1884 that: “A German conductor,” we are told, “in order that the public may be more deeply impressed with the feeling of grief intended to be produced by the Funeral March in Beethoven’s ‘Eroica Symphony,’ wears […]
