A Teacher's Legacy

I don't know if I've mentioned this yet, but I am a pretty serious piano player.  I started taking lessons when I was about five or six, and despite a few breaks along the way still play to this day.  This upcoming timeline is a repost from my old blog entries.  Silly me neglected to keep the dates to my posts so I don't have the date when I originally posted this.

When I began searching for my current piano teacher I had very specific qualifications:

1.  She had to be female.

2.  She had to be someone who was comfortable teaching intermediate/advanced adults.

3.  She had to be someone I could grow with and eventually train me to compete and perform.

I went to a local piano shop and discussed this with one of the sales ladies.  She recommended D and stated that this individual is a very 'powerful' teacher, and she felt that she would fit my needs very well.  When I started lessons with D I was shocked at the rate of improvement I was going through.  It was in part the frequency of my practicing, but it was also her instruction.  I'd never had a teacher like her before.  It wasn't a particular formula to her teaching, but a level of sophistication and understanding of music mixed with very foundational practice techniques she'd learned from her teachers.

I find it fascinating how we are drawn to certain people in our life; teachers especially.  What really interests me about this is that with any sort of art we are drawn to very distinct areas of it.  For example, when looking at paintings someone may love the impressionists, but can't stand modernism.  All forms of art are a type of communication.  Writing may be much more obvious as well as a lot of the visual arts, but music is a type of experience.  It creates an atmosphere and mood.  It can transport you anywhere and bring infinite images and feelings to mind.  I find music to be a very personal experience, and finding the right teacher is incredibly important.

I thought I'd entertain everyone with the lineage of teachers that ends with my current teacher.  During one of our lessons she gave me the break down as I kept going on and on about certain composers and my love for their work.  Some of those composers are included in this lineage, and so it begins:

We are starting off with J.S. Bach.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with the name.  He is considered one of the greatest composers of all time, and some even say he's the best, but it's a matter of preference.  His music was during the Baroque period, and was very innovative at the time due to his extensive use of counterpoint, or multiple voices of melody.  This makes him very challenging to play, but delightful to listen to.

J.S. Bach had four sons whom he taught piano.  The youngest being J.C. Bach.  He moved to Italy to write operas, converted to Catholocism and changed his name to Giovanni Bach.  Then he moved to London to compose other forms of music and changed his name to John Bach.

John Bach gave lessons to W.A. Mozart who also went on to be one of the greatest composers during the Classic era of music.  The unique part of the Baroque and Classic eras is that 'balance' was still an integral part of the music.  It was very emotional and beautiful, but things had to make sense.  Music was much more rational during this time.

W.A. Mozart didn't teach, but he mentored a man named Hayden.  Hayden had composed music before his friendship and mentorship relationship with Mozart, but his music took on a distinctive change for the better during and after that relationship with Mozart.  Most of his memorable work came during that time period.

Hayden then gave a young man named Beethoven lessons.  Of course, Beethoven is very well known.  He was the bridge between the Classic and Romantic eras of music.  His music didn't really fit into either because it was in a category all of its own.  However, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was the critical symphony that shot the musical world into the Romantic era.  Composers began wanting less rational music and more music that described literature, poetry, and specific words for emotions.  Beethoven was also responsible for many of the changes made to the piano so he could hear and use more notes.

Beethoven taught a man named Czerny, and he became one of the greatest musical petagogues in music history.  He wrote extensively, but is most well known for his collections of musical exercises for pianists.  Czerny then taught a man named Liszt who became one of the world's greatest performers.  He was well known in his early years for inserting popular tunes into classical pieces during his performances.  He was made fun of because his facial expressions and movement while playing would get goofy while he was getting involved in his playing.  He moved people to tears and emotional outbursts because of how passionate and evoking his piano work was.

Liszt was an incredible teacher and taught everyone to include a man named Arthur DeGreef.  He wasn't a composer, but a performer.  Arthur DeGreef taught a man named Guilleume Mombaerts who is another concert pianist, but not a composer.  He became the chairman of the piano department of NW University.  This man taught my piano teacher D, and now she is teaching me!

When D told me all of this she said, "A lot of my students think I've got some sort of secret passed all the way from Bach to his students that will be the key to their piano playing.  Unfortunately, I don't, except for Bach's quote, 'I worked hard.  Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results.'"  It's so true.  Talent can only go so far.  The rest is practice!

This quote by Bach puts music best:

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul."