a piano class...

Speech #5, Competent Communication - ToastMasters.

Sol si sol si sol si sol si la si fa si sol si do si so si do si sol si...

-      Stop, what is this? What are you playing?

My piano teacher asked me during a class a couple of months ago.

I used to play piano when I was in school. I had studied piano for 7 years. I completed the entire elementary schooling in Arts and then decided to do Finance. Since then, my life style changed, I started living abroad, traveling a lot so I barely touched the instrument. Two years ago somebody convinced me to buy a keyboard since I travel a piano would be impractical to carry around. I bought a keyboard, printed some piano sheets and realized that my skills got really rusty. I never thought about training again until I came to Prague where I was introduced to a conservatory teacher. We started the classes late September this year.

I loved this new and at the same time old experience of piano classes. It was like in school in terms of discipline, homework and seriousness which I devoted to this training. But unlike school, I could choose the tunes myself. And I chose this piece.

Has anyone watched Pride and Prejudice 2005 release starring Keira Knightley? This is my favorite movie of all times. There is a scene with an absolutely heavenly piece of music called Liz on the top of the world. So as  soon as I started piano classes, this was the tune to be learnt. My piano teacher did not know about this version of the movie, nor did he listen to Marianelli’s masterpiece. But he conceded and I was the happiest.

A couple of classes down the line I was able to read the notes correctly, play both hands at the same time, respect the rhythm and the main vocal lines. It was around the forth week when this particular class took place:

Sol si sol si sol si sol si la si fa si sol si do si...I continued...

-      No, no, no. What are you playing?

I looked at the notes again as they were rather simple. A first grader could play this passage. One hand is playing a repetition of sounds. This is not rocket science. However, I took a closer look at the notes, just in case I was missing a note....

-      What do you see? He asked me again.

-      What do you mean what do I see? I see sol si sol si....

-      No...tell me what do you see when you play this passage?

-   Mhm...what do I see? Mhm...this was a difficult question. I wasn't sure if I saw anything at all.

And then he exclaimed:

-      I see waves. Sol si sol si.....do you see them?

-      Hmm...I think so, I said. I might be seeing a morning...the dawn of a beautiful morning.

-      Alright. Let me hear your morning.

And I restarted playing.

As I was approaching the climax, the melody was a torrential flowing towards the head of the piano, where the very high notes are, the music was in a constant crescendo...getting louder and louder...majestic.

Yet, he stopped me again.

-      What did you play this time?

I was silent. I did not really have a story to tell..at least I did not think about it whilst playing.

-      I had my eyes closed all this time trying to see a movie, he said. And this music should be so romantic, breathtaking...and do you know what I saw when you were playing this crescendo passage...I saw a shooting!!! You were killing someone with a shotgun.

Then he stood up, he was singing the music the way he was feeling it and climbing an imaginary mountain...

-      Here, he was pointing at the notes, you climb the mountain. The music flows and so you get higher and higher in your climb and here....in this point, of maximum sound, in this Do, you are at the top of the mountain. You are overlooking the entire world...you can see the entire world beneath you and you are the horizon...you are above everything.....

I was astounded. I looked at him amazed. I knew that he did not see the movie, nor did he listen to this tune prior to meeting me. Yet, it seemed that he understood perfectly Marianelli, the composer of this melody.

I couldn't utter a word. I went to my desk, brought my computer to him. Played the movie, at the scene where this music is interpreted and let him watch how Liz was on a cliff, overlooking the entire world...being the horizon itself.

We started laughing. He did not expect to see the real movie through a sheet of paper. I did not expect music to convey a message so explicitly. 

I have learnt that notes are like mere words. Played carelessly they produce sound which is meaningless. Played rightly, music can transfer our thoughts and imagination just like a novel to the listener. Next time, you go to a concert or listen to a tune on YouTube, close your eyes and enjoy the movie.Hopefully, it is going to be a beautiful story behind.