This is an English translation of an article published in Nikkan San on December 19, 2019, as a part of my column, “The Way of the Pianist.
Did you know that an anagram of the word “listen” is “silent”?
The discovery made me ponder on the fact how, we cannot generate and receive information through sound at the same time. For example, as a musician, when you listen while you perform, you are always chasing your own shadows, following sounds that have already been pronounced. Even in a conversation, a person who ponders on each choice of word as he formulates his sentences, deviates from the rhythm of a normal verbal discourse. The sound generated becomes an irretrievable, irreversible fact. Before you generate any sound, as exclamations, words and/or music, you must be able to take responsibility of its expression.
How can you become a confident and responsible sound generator? As a musician, you have the luxury of practice time. In the process, you do things like slowing the music down to allow yourself to listen to each note you project and correct them if they are not to your liking. You get to record yourself and to listen to make necessary adjustments. You listen to other performers to inform your own musicianship.
So how can you practice at life? By taking a break from being the generator, sometimes. To commit to silence, to listen to others, to learn from their views and lives in order to gain perspective. To meditate. And to read, appreciate the beauty around you, and to take a break from being the protagonist of your own life, all the time.
We have our accumulated past, on which we act in order to shape our future a head of us to build. A life is just like a musical performance, in that we are all in this art of time. My new year’s resolution is to honestly embrace and reflect my daily practice and my life so far on all of my expressions, with my whole being, with pride, and to keep on growing from the process.
What is yours?
