Mi vida en cinco líneas

Anécdotas, descubrimientos, proyectos y metas de una estudiante de composición musical. \\ A music composition student's life and goals.

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¿Quién tiene derecho a aprender música?

Hoy fui de jurado a un concurso de coros que cantan el Himno Nacional. Fue una cosa muy bonita, escuchar el himno, las voces blancas, la emoción de los niños... pero no puedo dejar de pensar en esto: Hubo dos categorías, la de escuelas con maestro especialista en música (que esta vez eran todas eran privadas) y escuelas con maestro de todología que le entró a la dirección. Enseñar música no es nada fácil, no basta con saberla, hay que saber enseñar; ya ni se diga dirigir, y más cuando son niños. ¿El resultado? La diferencia entre los coros con maestro músico y los no músico fue abismal. La calidad de la voz, la entonación, las entradas, los matices, la dicción... Creo que el arte es para todos, que el disfrute de la música es un derecho universal, y para disfrutarla cabalmente hay que desarrollar algunas habilidades (seguir un ritmo, entonar tu canción favorita etc), pero ¿cómo puede ser esto posible si el acceso a la educación artística depende del nivel económico? Algunos conocidos ya están en el sistema público enseñando música, y tengo fe que ellos harán un súper trabajo por nuestra sociedad, ojalá las autoridades educativas dejen de perder el presupuesto en tonterías y le apuesten a lo realmente formativo. Y por mi parte, ya lo saben algunos amigos, doy clases gratis a quien se comprometa a estudiar chido. Porque el arte nos hace más humanos en este tiempo donde parece que se nos olvida precisamente eso.

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Instagram photo by Laura • Oct 23, 2016 at 1:01am UTC

See this Instagram photo by @lauraelisha • 4 likes

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Stefan Hussong - Other Minds (2004) - Full concert

Accordionist Stefan Hussong performs at Other Minds 10 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 2004. Pieces include: Traditional Gagaku (Japan, 1...

Lovely, ethereal...

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I just can’t get away from music *sneaked into the orchestra room to play with the timpani* I think I found my new piece’s instrumentation.

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Abandonarse

Me siento tentada a dejar la carrera en música.

La música me ha dado tantos placeres, tantos retos, tantos logros y aprendizajes. La creación musical me ha permitido conocer tanto de mi misma... 

Pero volver a la facultad es retomar una vida que quiero abandonar para siempre.

No es necesario estudiar una licenciatura para componer, al fin que ya tengo otro título y una especialidad en otra área. Puedo seguir componiendo en la privacidad de mi estudio, buscando amigos o contratando alguno para interpretar mis obras. Componer como quien pinta por mero placer, como quien hace deporte sin pretender ser olímpico, como quien cocina gourmet sólo para su familia o para sí mismo.

Es un mal común el que los recién graduados se creen lo más grande del universo. No es la primera persona que se llena de arrogancia al graduarse y reclama aplauso y adoración como un divo famoso. ¿Acaso en eso se convierte uno al graduarse de composición? Yo no quiero eso, gracias, estaré en mi recámara con mis partituras.

Quiero comenzar con la nueva vida que tengo. Quizá en ella también haya composición, pero aún tengo que descubrirla.

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I was walking home late night, still mourning my loss, still feeling like I was going to become sea foam from sadness like the mermaid. When I decided to study music it was to master the ability of putting in sound what can not be expressed with words, like the sublime, the ethereal and the lonely. Then it struck me while I was walking the road: a little sublime yet very sad melody coming from strings, floating like foam over the sea. I’ve never been able to do a thing while I’m sad, but this time I had that moment of clarity and now I begin to listen to my own inner music again.

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On the edge of death, only art can save me: I’m not leaving until some decent work is done.

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I’m back in my hometown for a few days. Back to the out-of-tune piano, to the silence of province, to the old good friends. Watching the eternal summer go by trough the window while working on my third piece of this year. Life is quiet yet not totally good. I may find my inner sound in this huge silent desert. 

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my advice to young music majors

Next week, I’ll be graduating with my degree in music performance, and I’ve been thinking a lot about what I’ve learned, and some of the common issues I’ve witnessed or dealt with during my time here.

It’s okay not to know everything. If you knew everything, you wouldn’t need to be at school. You wouldn’t be at school. Don’t be embarrassed for not knowing everything, because you are at school to learn. (This might be my most important piece of advice.)

It’s okay to ask questions. See point two.

It is not okay to think you know everything. You don’t. See point two. You are not the hottest shit since sliced bread, at least not now.

Be open-minded as hell. Listen to weird music. Accept criticism openly. Accept compliments openly (this is just as important).

Drink coffee. All the time. It’ll help you play faster. Probably.

Have performance anxiety? Sure, eating bananas and taking deep breaths will help you, but the only way to overcome performance anxiety is to perform as much as you possibly can. Invite a friend or three into your practice room and perform your solo for them. Join ensembles. Take gigs. Treat your practice sessions like you would a performance. We practice playing music all the time, but we also have to practice performing.

Maria Schneider came to my school a while ago, and left me with this fantastic quote (which I paraphrase now): “When you’re stuck aiming for perfection, you sacrifice the freedom that comes with making mistakes and experimenting.” One of the best things that could have happened to me musically was when I messed up a passage in one of my vibraphone pieces in a lesson, and played really awkwardly and out of time. My teacher told me it was the hippest thing he’d heard, and to play the entire piece with that in mind. It was awesome.

Take frequent or as-needed breaks. Mental health, sleep, food, and socializing are all important. Don’t feel bad about taking a day or two off from practicing. Go to a party and dance/drink your ass off. Enjoy your time in school, because living it up is part of the college experience. Life is about balance.

On that note, burn out is real. I nearly dropped out last year for various reasons, but I chose to stick it out and this year, I have found a second wind even stronger than the first. I just needed a break - I took the summer off entirely from music. Sometimes people need a break, even if it’s from something they love. That’s perfectly fine. It does not make you a lesser human being or a lesser musician.

Also sort of on that note, if you’re having serious trouble with a certain piece or passage, take a break from it. Revisit it in a few days or so, and you may be surprised what your subconscious has done for you.

Analyze the music you play. Study the composer, look up program notes. Be an expert at what you do.

There is much much more to music than the Romantic era. Listen to medieval dances and Renaissance polyphony. Listen to Xenakis and Ligeti. Be a well-rounded musician.

Don’t be ashamed about listening to and enjoying music that isn’t “refined” or “cultured” according to your history textbook. There is much more to music than Mozart. Dance your ass off to Kesha. Enjoy what life has to offer, even if it isn’t the most intricate, sophisticated, or “classy” material. Life is too short to spend it avoiding the simple pleasures. (Also, you don’t want to be an elitist or a party-pooper.)

Along those lines, listen to and play music from those who are living. Music has to evolve with time, and if we want it to survive and thrive, we have to embrace music of the present just as much if not more than music of the past. While it is important to know the main themes from Beethoven’s symphonies and understand the importance of Schubert’s lieder, there is music being made today by people just as talented as the greats of the past, but they are greatly ignored because they are not Beethoven. Old music deserves appreciation, but it cannot be the focus of your musical studies.

Write new music. If you want. Or arrange music you like for your instrument or some cool ensemble. If you want.

Practice. Love what you do. Be unrelenting in your love for what you do.

Relax, you’re doing fine.

[oboesapien]

Run.

[lauraelisha]

Thank you for the rage.

Thank you for giving me the rage, that which has got me running all this time, because what else could keep me alive If all my pieces have been scattered around, if every fantasy I had believed in has been dethroned, If every dream has been denied. Thank you for giving me the rage, that which makes my heart pump and my legs move and my fists close tight bleaching the knuckles out. I thank the rage because it has prevented me from loving, or laughing or sing; but it has kept me alive.

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Tengo siempre sobre la mesa las partituras de la obra en la que trabajo y la transcripción a Sibelius abierta. Eventualmente noto algún detalle, añado una idea... eventualmente noto una corrección, añado un detalle. Me ha sido muy útil.

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Tengo una compañera cantante que en sus ratos de pereza o desánimo prefiere tocar piano; cuando me harto de estudiar escalas o me abruma lo mal que toco alguna invención, me da por cantar... El mundo está al revés.

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Hagas lo que hagas tienes que ser la mejor. Si vas a barrer calles, que tu calle brille.

Lodijomiguiadoradescoutenunaactividad (via son-solo-palabras)

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Art doesn’t distinguish between man and woman, because art is for the whole humanity. It only distinguishes between the disciplined and talented, and the lazy.

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¿No es acaso más seguro y placentero sentirse sujeto a lago tan confiable como la regularidad pulsativa, que es como el pulso cardíaco, primigenio y esencial? Pero la música ha buscado desde siempre, desde los albores de la tradición escrita, rebasar aquel espacio-tiempo estriado.

Rafael Díaz S. en http://www.musicasacrachilena.cl/img/pdf/el_tiempo_liso_apulsativo.pdf

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For my next magic trick... Analyzing Messiaen's clarinet solo for composing one myself, birdie style.

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Prefiero las llamadas "vanguardias" cuando son necesarias a la expresión; hacer algo nuevo simplemente porque se puede no es muy expresivo que digamos, en mi opinión. (de La música moderna. Adolfo salazar)