Journey vs. Destination

My sister-in-law’s concert was last night. My goals was simple: make sure none of the normal every day stress touches her. You want cookies? Done! Cheese? Yup! Two dozen mini cupcakes picked up? Oh, you mean for a little reception after… ok, then you’ll want drinks and something to make the table look nice (so much for the flowers we’d thought to get her to hold but as a table ornament they were great). And, to the extent is it within my power, none of the rest of the family will be late, no one will get lost, everyone will be fed… These are all things I’m fairly competent at handling. Other than being bossy and inquisitive, it doesn’t take a whole lot of skill.

Unlike my sister-in-law’s performance. That took a lot of skill. And years and years of practice. Something like thirty years, including the two she’s spent getting her Master of Music degree at Longy School of Music.

When C got his Master’s degree in physics, he had a final oral exam. It wasn’t open to the public. And if it was, he didn’t invite me to watch nor did he have all of his family and most of his friends sitting in the audience, excited and nervous for him.

Minta did. We all watched, the most forgiving audience in the world, but, still, there is nothing like the stress having friends and extended family watching you, many of them musicians themselves. I don’t blame her at all for her nervousness. It was unnecessary because she was so well prepared but I do understand the nerves.

She played beautifully, of course.

The “of course” is a little glib- too easy, it fails to recognize the years and years of preparation at music schools and her own unending practice. Personally, I loved the lyrical beauty of Josh Hummel’s Wu-Wo, flute and piano music representing a traditional Chinese tea ceremony, especially the Peony and Lotus movement. If you were to have expectations for how flute performance should sound, that would be it. (Well, that and the Chinese folks songs that were hauntingly beautiful.) My second favorite was Zoom Tube, a piece written by a flute playing mathematician. In it were all the sounds that an expert can coax out of a flute that are different than what you might expect. It was surprising and humorous, a fun piece.

The jazz ensemble was awesome too but I suspect I would have enjoyed that more if I wasn’t so ignorant. Jazz is often more fun if I understand the original piece and can appreciate the choices the musicians made. (There is a really good Young Indiana Jones episode where Indy learns to play Jazz Sax. It explores the concept vs. reality of jazz music. Sadly, that episode forms the basis of my jazz musical education.)

It was with the final piece that I was once again reminded of C’s physics oral exam. The jazz ensemble did some free improvisation. This isn’t a “start with a jazz standard and wander where you will” sort of improv. C wispered to me that they start with a key and a tempo and truly make it all up as they go along. It was nonsensical to me, both to make music that way and the result.

But if I’d gone to C’s physics oral, would I really have expected to been able to follow what he did? I have more exposure to physics than flute music. I don’t know the language of jazz improv any more than I know how to use a Lagrangian to do anything. And that is ok.

Except, somehow, I think I should be able to “get it” for music even when I don’t feel that way for physics. Oh, sure, it was a public performance and I know my sister-in-law had to choose pieces that showed her artistry and technical expertise while still appealing to a broader audience. I wonder if C could have found physics problems to solve in public that were master’s level and would appeal to his whole family (and satisfy his professors).

Why do we expect all music to be approachable? Sure, it is ok not to like some music but to say “I just don’t get it” feels like a failing I must go out and remedy.

I don’t play an instrument. I didn’t have access to music of my choosing until mid-way through college. (That is a separate story, suffice to say I deeply understand all forms of 80s and 90s country music and just as deeply loathe 90% of it.) Now I have a fairly eclectic music tastes (Ella Fitzgerald, Shawn Colvin, They Might Be Giants, Ramones, Beethoven, etc.) but, like art, I am not good at buying music I will like in a month. I listen to the surface and then get sick of it quickly. Happily, C is better and I listen to his musical acquisition as well (when it isn’t Rush (not that I don’t like Rush, just not as much as C does)).

Anyway, my musical education is sadly lacking, really bottom of the barrel. My enthusiam makes up for some of it. However, enthusiasm couldn’t help someone learn algebra without in-depth instruction of arithmetic. So I’m not going to make that same assumption for music even though I feel that idea around me, that all I need to appreciate complex, historically interesting, technically challenging music is to listen to it. Bunk. Utter bunk.

So, a point, I’m sure I had one. Let’s see. My sister-in-law’s performance was excellent. I’m pleased that I enjoyed almost all of it and disappointed in myself that I didn’t understand the last bit. And a little disappointed in my disppointment but I’m blaming that on society.