Music is a huge part of my life. I’ve always loved it, from growing up, all the way to today, as I sit here listening to music while writing this.
This year, I’ve been able to explore some different ways of playing music. Being in grade 7, this is my first year in school band, I got to join orchestra, and I also started working on a piano duet. That being said, I thought I might share some of the advantages (and disadvantages) of some of these ways of playing music.
Solo
I’m probably most accustomed to playing solo music. I’ve played piano the longest out of all my instruments, so solo is basically all I played up until last year when I started violin. Solo music is pretty cool. It’s more at the liberty of the performer, so there’s more room for self-interpretation. You have the power to change tempo, dynamics, stylistic things, etc. But while having this freedom is nice, playing solo music is… well, solo. You don’t get to collaborate with other people and make music together, which is also pretty cool.
Duet
So this past year, I’ve been working on “Petite Suite – en Bateau” (Claude Debussy), a duet for the piano. I can’t speak for duets on all instruments, but piano duets can sure be awkward, especially when you’ve never played them before. First, the constant “Why is your arm there, I need more room” thoughts, and elbowing (although I imagine one guitar duets can be even more awkward)
Then, figuring out how to start, stay, and end together. I can’t exactly count us in every time we play, especially since we’re taking this to Calgary Performing Arts Festival (Kiwanis). But duets do sound amazing when they come together. There’s just something so cool about the way two people can work together and create such awesome music. (Here‘s a video of the duet that I’m playing, performed by Lang Lang and Eschenbach)
Ensemble
Finally, ensemble music. As I mentioned before, this was my first year playing in band and orchestra and oh my gosh, I love it. It’s so exciting to hear everyone’s individual parts all come together into beautiful music. All the different parts, the harmonies, it’s all so amazing. And yes, you do have to follow the conductor, leaving less room for self interpretation, but on the bright side, if you play ensemble music, you don’t have to learn any of the Italian terms for tempo markings. Everything has the same meaning. “Watch the conductor.” Yeah, ensemble music is pretty awesome too. I love the sounds of an orchestra tuning up, even the sound of the brass section doing their warmups.
So I can’t exactly decide which one’s my favourite, out of the ones I’ve tried. But I can tell you this: music is freaking awesome.
