LO6 – Global Engagement.

Recently, I have been listening closely to how other pianist play a piece (on Youtube) , in order to improve my interpretation of the music.  This was a part lacking in some my pieces as certain pieces such as Bach Prelude and Fugue in A Flat Major offer quite simple melodies with little or no dynamics given, thus the pianist (me) are left to our own devices. Because of this, I became aware on the different interpretations of music, as other pianist had different “thoughts” on the pieces, but more importantly, we all had a similar “general” interpretation.

Watching/reading the recent news of the Taliban banning music, I became aware of the distinct parallels between the classical music I explore, where many Russian music was banned during the soviet era. It became evident to me that music meant more than just listening for pleasure, but can act as a way to expression, thus the ban in authoritarian governments (not all). I also found out that these “expressions” are universal and transcend time, as music made in the 19s/18s still very much cause human emotion to this day as well as produce a sense of relatability.