“Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is the electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents” ~ Ludwig van Beethoven
There was never a time when music wasn’t a part of the human condition. We clapped. We hummed. We sang. We swayed to the rhythm long before the invention of modern day instruments.
Yet no matter what instrument we play or genre we prefer, music changes us. It comforts us like a best friend. It teaches us. It sets our world on fire.
“Music expresses feeling and thought, without language; it was below and before speech, and it is above and beyond all words” ~ Robert G. Ingersoll
Like everything, music changes. Instruments change. The piano changes. Many distractions get in the way. So how does the piano adapt?
Through technology? We’re raising technology literate children for a new world. Of course, they don’t want to go back to days of old. They have an open slate, and it can challenge them in many ways. Why fight it? Why not adopt it into our everyday lives?
“Every child in our country should learn how to sing, and how to play upon at least on a musical instrument. Among these the piano is perhaps the most practical for musical cultural purposes. Nothing should crowd out the opportunity for self-expression which can come to those who can play the piano with some degree of mastery” ~ Walter Damrosch
Music is the language of the world for many reasons. No matter what language you speak, music is there. And all music is created through one of seven notes. There may be different names, but all tones remain the same. And in every language, music is there at the deepest level of heart and soul.
“I had never before thought of how awful the relationship must be between the musician and his instrument. He has to fill it, this instrument, with the breath of life, his own. He has to make it do what he wants it to do. And a piano is just a piano. It’s made out of so much wood and wires and little hammers and big ones, and ivory. While there’s only so much you can do with it, the only way to find this out is to try; to try and make it do everything.” ~ James Baldwin
Music is there to guide you every step of your life. What else has that power? It can improve your performance in school, provide stress relief during every period of your life, provide recovery from major health conditions. You can stand on the sidelines and listen, or you can jump in and participate in a big way.
“Life is like a piano. What you get out of it depends on how you play it.” ~ Tom Lehrer
Is the piano a part of your lifestyle?