Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Day 18: Rumination.

Chopin's 200th birthday was March 1.
He passed away at the age of 39 from TB.

What did he accomplish in this time? Many highly complex solo piano pieces.



How does one accomplish so much in so little time?
Would that even be possible in today's society?

Are we suffering modern sensory overload?
Too many distractions coupled with too many things we feel we have to do?



When in reality there are truly only a few simple things at the core...


Practice is the one time of my run-of-the-mill-day where everything else disappears. All that other stuff?
Just evaporates.


* * *

Today practiced my first almost-fully-unmodified primary in almost three weeks now - fairly easily, smoothly.

Maybe a little gingerly - but good ntl.

No thoughts. No whims. No pressure.


3 comments:

nugenta@gmail.com said...

There are some good things about modern life. We don't die at 39 from TB anymore. Chopin had time for art because the educational demands were so much fewer - there were simply less things to learn. While many of us are suffering from sensory overload, we've also evolved in the last 200 years.

(Science, however, still cannot cure norovirus, which is why I will probably not see you tonight...)

Portside said...

Very true about modern life. The whole not dying of TB at 39 - HUGE improvement.

I'd venture it was more the perceived demands. While 200 years seems like a long time, how much have we really evolved? Not much. Yet, technology maybe has slightly superseded our current evolutionary phase.

Which leads me to the question of how does (or can) technology assist in tapping into the human potential that Chopin (for example - any profound historical "genius" would do here) tapped into. Are we resting on our laurels? Is technology making us slackers?


(Yeah. Funny how Science can regrow human tissue yet can't tackle that profoundly simple little bugger. Take it easy and feel better soon A!)

Arturo said...

hi Portside

i was touched when i saw his grave at Pere Lachaise in Paris (and Edith Piaf's and Gertrude Steins-Alice B. Toklas, and .... the list goes on) but mostly also because i had read the autobiography of Georges Sand, the aristrocat that shared her life with him. i think it's concentration, slight mania, discipline, etc. that led to so much productivity.
hugs
Arturo