I am sharing this music composition that a friend and I made together in this last week as a reflective piece for this course not because I think the outcome fits particularly well but rather the process of creating it does. I have played the violin for many years now, and have never before strayed from the path of practicing etudes to perfect my technique and then practicing classical pieces to perfect a performance of them. This created a very narrow appreciation for music, as well as giving rise to lots of insecurities in my own playing, as things never turned out as perfect as I expected them to be. My friend, who is a very talented sound designer, encouraged to me to just play the notes that I was feeling, layer things I played on top of eachother to stretch the limits and boundaries I had felt within my violin, and most importantly to enjoy all aspects of the playing and production process, including things I would previously have regarded as mistakes, because these make a piece of music so much more real. This, to me, feels exactly like what we are trying to explore through our course; a course in which working together, learning from eachother, learning to enjoy being playful, and unlearning certain roles and expectations we have created within our educational experience is put at the forefront of our minds.
I know I’m not one of your ‘reviewers’ but just wanted to say I really enjoyed this Annapurna; it was really evocative and thought-provoking but and also very peaceful. Made me think I need to get back into playing music again! 🙂
This is beautiful, Annapurna! It’s so cool to see music being a medium of reflection as well 🙂
This is such a wondeful idea! As a (ex)pianist, i very much understand the rigiditity that I always associated with practicing, and I’m glad that reflecting on this course has encouraged you to attempt something so beautifully different! I find it easy to forget how powerful music can be, especially when creating it, so this has definitely inspired me to sit down at a keyboard again, but this time probably without my usual sheet music!