Music Breaks Boundaries

Today, I took a standardized school test. One of the passages that I had to answer questions about was about Yo-Yo Ma, the cellist. This prompted me to write this post. I admire him a lot, especially for his Silk Road Project. This project focused on taking music from all different nations, and sharing them. The real reason that this project was and is so monumental is that no matter what language you speak, what religion you have, and your social class is, you have some relation with music.

Very few people (Sigmund Freud being one of them) dislike music. Therefore, everyone shares this universal language, even if it differs slightly from region to region. With stereotypes and language barriers, many people are not open to interactions with other cultures. However, listening to other cultures' music is something everyone can do and enjoy. What Yo-Yo Ma did with the Silk Road Project is, in my opinion, one of the best ways to reach out to other cultures.

To conclude, if you want to learn about other cultures, try listening to their music. Also, make sure you interact with music so you don't get left out of the universal language.

Worry About Yourself

I know this is not directly related to music, but it involves my piano playing. I, being the only piano playing student in my high school, am asked by teachers to do quite a lot of accompanying and whatnot. However, I'm not able to do all of the stuff they ask of me. This makes me feel bad, but I've come to a conclusion. You can't please everyone. Everyone has their own agenda, and will ask for their needs first. Therefore, you should worry about yourself. Now, take this advice with a grain of salt. I don't want you to be extremely selfish and only care about your own needs, but be prepared to dissapoint people. You have to worry about your life, and not be concerned with making everyone else happy. Be able to say no.

Overall, set your own goals and make your own life. If someone else asks you to do something against your own wishes, politely tell them no, and expect to dissapoint people.

Take Action In Life

I've addressed the fact that everyone has the potential for greatness, musical and otherwise, in them. However, this is meaningless without taking action. It is essentially up to you to take the potential and turn it into reality. I personally believe that the main reason people don't always take action is that they fear failure. Failure, however, is not something to fear. It is probably the best teacher you will ever have in life. When I practice piano, it is failure that shows me where to put my best efforts in. I play songs over and over and over, failing most times. Then, after a long period of failure, I reach my goal. But if I never even tried, thinking that I could fail, I'd never achieve anything. Therefore, you have to take action in life. Then, all the doors open for you.

Follow Your Emotions

Recently, while tinkering on the piano, I found two chords. When played in succession, the sound gave me a rush of happiness. I can't even explain why the simple chords made me feel so good, but I knew I had to add them to some composition of mine. When a sound, or anything for that matter, brings up a vast amount of emotion you should stick with it. Those emotions show that you have a natural connection to it, an inherent liking. So few things like that come up in life, so don't ignore them. Follow your emotions to the thing you love the most, and there you will find happiness.

Think Freely

Many people are set in there ways. Music is, of course, the first example I think of. Most "popular" musicians write the same kind of song because that's what sells. When people go outside of the so-called safety zone, they are much less successful. They are almost shunned for their differentiations from the norm. This is detrimental to the music world because what is popular is not necessarily what is best.

I see an example of this in the religious world. These are just my ideas, and I do not intend to offend anyone with them. Nowadays, everyone either has no religion, or goes to a church, synagogue, or mosque. However, preset organized religion may not be the best for society. Organized religion, I believe is counterproductive to religion's goal. The goal of religion, as I see it, is to teach people to respect their fellow human beings and to overall teach people to do things not just for their own benefit. Organized religion, however is essentially an ultimatum. If you don't abide by every rule listed in the Bible, the Torah, or the Qu'ran or elsewhere, you will have negative consequences. This is fear based, and doesn't have people doing the right thing for the right reason. Therefore, different ideas could be beneficial, and should not be shunned.

Overall, I'm saying that the present situations should be examined and new ideas should be introduced. Rules have their benfits, as I've said, but new rules need to be introduced as well.Even in music, where there are tons and tons of rules, you have to bring new ideas and rules in. That is the way that music has evolved so much. So examine your world, and see how you can better it with free thinking.

Experimentation Leads To Creativity

Today I was reading "Awakening", by Shakti Gawain, which gives little bits of advice for each day. Today's information was experimentation is needed for creativity. This is especially true in music. Perhaps one third of my compositions are what I'd call good. I have to experiment so many different combinations of chords and notes before I find the one that I'm pleased with. This worked for scientists too. Think of Thomas Edison. He had thousands of experimental lightbulbs before he found the one that worked.

Next time your being creative, be prepared for disappointments. Just take them in stride, and know that you're on your way to a great creation.

Music Is Amazing

I was practicing my piano today when it struck me how amazing the music we create truly is. Even the simpplest songs are so complex. It kind of gets me thinking: how do humans just know what "sounds good"? Before we established rules of counterpoint and composition, how did we know the right combinations of notes? One answer is that music is just a part of any organism. That music is a part of our minds. Some evidence to back this up is the oddly high occurance of musical families. Very often, a musically gifted person will have a musically gifted child. My personal opinion is that music is an inherent piece to any living thing. Therefore, don't let music slip you by. Embrace that part of yourself by listening, playing, and writing music.