Welcome to the Nancy Garniez blog - an adventure in day to day sharing of insights into music, life and a few other things. Each day's teaching and learning brings forth ideas inspired by the curiosity and responsiveness of my students, young and old, whose love of music and of the piano most impressively reinforces my own.
The experiences, being ephemeral, are too good to remain unchronicled. So let's begin.
I welcome your comments and questions and invite you to visit my website:
www.tonalrefraction.com
This morning began with a question in Bartok's Waves from the Mikrokosmos, Vol. II. Is the second note in the left hand a G-flat or G-natural? What a good question! Having so far heard only a descending A-flat major scale a sensible player would expect a G-natural. The question, which arose from listening rather than theory, is one of artistic subtlety--relevant to the sense of potential that every mature artist allows to penetrate in piano playing. It is this awareness of potential that keeps piano playing fresh. In a nano-second the artist hovers between the black key and the white key, stretching ever so slightly the time it takes to decide for one or the other, allowing the quality of mystery to affect the way the fingertip touches the key. It is not the intellect that controls the touch, but the deep sense of open-ended possibility.
Does this seem like too small a detail to be worthy of so much attention? I believe it is exactly the kind of detail that makes a performance unforgettable.
Do you permit yourself the relishing of such moments?
