1,000 Days of Music - Day 25: Who Are You?

As the woman on horseback races across the fields, another rider comes into view. Faster and faster the horses speed across the stormy landscape. For a moment the pursuer appears to gain ground. Then his quarry pulls away. The woman guides her horse into the woods at full speed, but after a moment she slows as a small cottage comes into view. Coming to a stop so abruptly that she nearly flies over the stallion’s head, she leaps from his back and bursts into the cottage.
I’ve always thought of Burgmuller’s Arabesque as a damsel-in-distress-tied-to-the-railroad-tracks kind of piece. But since the rest of the Wild Rider is slow in coming, I filled in the story music with the Arabesque.
My shift into music that tells stories leads me to an important question. Who is the audience for this blog? Who are you, who would be interested in reading this? My first answer is my students (and potential students) and their parents. My journey as a fellow student learning this repertoire informs my teaching. I share freely what I learn, whether it’s a practice technique or an emotional insight into recovering from mistakes. I do that in lessons, and I do that here.

When I ask a student, “What’s happening in this piece?” I often receive a blank stare as a reply. The answer may be, “I’m trying to play the notes without making any mistakes,” but student rarely wants to admit that. I will usually offer some suggestions. The kids are outside playing tag or hide and seek when a storm blows up. Or maybe it’s an 18th century dance party. Here in this small corner of cyberspace, I get to expand on those ideas without taking valuable instruction time.
Yet, this blog isn’t just for students and parents. It’s for anyone interested in making music, in the creative process, and in what it’s like to aim for a challenge goal. Mostly, however, this blog is for me. It keeps me honest, and if I can entertain and inspire anyone along the way, so much the better.