Blog Post #3: Beethoven & Friends

My piano teacher asked me a question in my last lesson that I couldn’t answer. I was playing the first movement of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 14 No. 2. I’d done my research on the piece. I knew how old Beethoven was when he wrote it (30) as well as the identity of the woman he’d dedicated the piece to. But when I’d finished playing, he asked me, “What is your emotional connection to this piece?” I couldn’t answer. I pondered this question for the rest of the day and well into the next. What was my emotional connection to the piece?

The next day I was listening to a piano masterclass by a guest artist. At the end, someone asked him how his collaborative career influenced his solo playing. He answered by saying that every solo piano piece actually involves various other instruments in his head. He pointed out that most Beethoven sonatas are basically string quartets. I thought about his words, and realized that maybe assigning different instruments to my solo pieces could help me create a better idea of how I want the pieces to sound. I played violin throughout middle and high school. Violin was my opportunity to play with others- in orchestras, in chamber ensembles, and even in Suzuki group class. So perhaps, if I imagined violin playing the melody lines of my Beethoven sonata, I could recreate all the warmth and richness I was surrounded by when playing in an orchestra.

But then a better idea came into my head. Why don’t I just take stories and experiences from my own life and weave them into my pieces? I like to journal and tell friends about events that occur in my life, so why not do it through music?

The Beethoven sonata I’m working on starts with the same musical phrase twice. I realized it kind of sounds like when I’m talking to a friend, I say something, and then they say something in reaction to it. For the Beethoven sonata, I assigned one particular friend (let’s call her K) to be the responder to my sentences. I was talking to K in a practice room one day when I suddenly remembered I was speaking to the very guest star of my Beethoven sonata. I excitedly told her my idea, and played the beginning of the piece. She then had a funny thought. What if we created a film of us talking, and instead of words coming out of our mouth, instead came musical notes? I imagined a Charlie Chaplin-like film in black and white with us as the main characters and music as our voices. I thought it was a hilarious idea.

Although we’ve yet to create our fantastic film idea, I’ve already gained something extremely valuable: my emotional connection with the piece. And moreover, I’ve learned a bigger lesson: I don’t have to do it all alone. No number of hours in the practice room could’ve helped me create the emotional connection to my music like one my friend helped me create.