Happy World Music Day 2023

 

Happy World Music/Make Music Day 2022

Happy World Music/Make Music Day! ❤🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵 🎻🎹🎸🎻🎷 The American musician, Joel Cohen, thought up the custom of playing live music on the French radio station he worked for to celebrate the beginning of summer time. However, nobody took up his idea until a couple of Frenchmen tweaked this idea and turned it into a widespread celebration of live music, produced by all musicians and accessible for all to hear, free of charge, irrespective of who they are. Music for all - What a great principle! 💖💖💖💖💖🙂 Although this Day started nationally in France in the early 80's, it has now expanded to being celebrated worldwide in over 120 countries. It's about making music and listening to music in public spaces. So grab your instrument, if you have one, and strike a few notes🎸🎻🎷🎵🎶; or sing out loud and proud👄🎵🎶🎵🎶; or turn up your MP3 player 📱👂🎵🎶🎵 and feel the stress just leave you.🙂🤗❤

It's also Humanist Day and humanists put a great deal of emphasis on the value of the arts which includes music, of course. So Happy World Humanist Day too!❤  I've written a short post on humanism, here:

https://philosophythoughtsasandwhen.blogspot.com/2022/06/celebrating-world-humanist-day-21st.html

World Music Day promotes the value of free public concerts and music events. I remember when I was visiting Prague, there were loads of easily accessible classical concerts around the city, simply advertised on a board in the street. There wasn't any formality around it, occurring very frequently, and with lots of variety and venues to choose from. Whereas I've never seen that in London (UK) - yes you can come across them but they are not prolific, not advertised out in the street so easy to miss. You have to keep looking for brochures or listings to find out what's going on and where. There is a lack of free concerts and events too, just as there is a dearth of free and accessible dance shows. And we don't all want to have to sit in a church in order to hear a free concert. Besides, these are invariably classical music concerts, not genres of pop music, so that restricts your choice of music concerts. 

So WMD is about making music accessible to all, not just the wealthy who can afford the expensive venues such as The Barbican, Sadlers Wells or the O2. Music is considered part of the good life, wellbeing and human flourishing. We can't have a society whereby wealthy can flourish by affording musical instruments, lessons and attending concerts while others completely miss out due to circumstances, lack of opportunities and a lack of diverse options for participating in music at all levels. And just because you attend concerts at expensive venues, that doesn't mean you want to be restricted to such venues all the time, you also want to attend easily affordable and free concerts regularly as well. 

Participating in music means not only that schools provide the music lessons, singing and instrumental, but also that they offer the subject at A Level as well as giving all pupils opportunities to perform. Furthermore, school pupils need to then be able to attend a music college to further their musical education and become performers. There are not enough music colleges in London never mind the whole of the UK. And those that do exist are, in a word, stuffy, and way too formal, thus not conducive to making music which should be a relaxing thing to do. If you're stressed you'll play badly. 

In this country too much value is given to certain fields such as, science, technology, engineering, finance, business and law and everything else is on a descending scale of not necessary. We heard this during the pandemic. Ballet dancers told to become IT Cyber Security specialists. Ballet is a physically demanding yet a creative, aesthetic profession whereas IT is sedentary, cerebral and repetitive one. It certainly isn't viewed as creative although sometimes it can be, for example, web design. Of course you need IT specialists but the creative industries provide much needed emotional outlet, thought provoking ideas and  relaxation. Music and other art forms  generate ideas which can set up interesting thought patterns in the brain that may not occur if the person doesn't incorporate creativity and imagination into their lives. 

Early Music Day 2022

Today is Early Music Day 🎶🎶🎻! This year is the 10th anniversary of celebrating Early Music Day, which is held every March 21st. This day was chosen in honour of Johann Sebastian Bach and because it is considered the beginning of spring it feels like an uplifting time of the year. 🌱🌼🌺🌷🌄

In terms of famous, key musical eras in classical music, Early Music includes:

the Medieval Period (500-1400)

the Renaissance Period (1400-1600), with composers such as Byrd, whose main purpose was to create secular compositions 🙂 rather than perpetuate the religious music of the past🥱; 

the Baroque Period (1600-1750, making this the style of music my 17th century philosophers,  Baruch Spinoza and Margaret Cavendish, would have heard. 👂👂🎶🎶🎶 Some famous composers in this era include Vivaldi, Telemann, Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach. 

The Ambassador, Carlo Vistoli, asks the following pivotal question on the designated website for Early Music Day 🎼: 

"Why and how does Early Music still speak to us today, from hundreds of years away?" 

Good question! I think it's appeal is that it's emotionally and intellectually undemanding. Hence, students can study while listening to Bach, or Handel. This is less true of Smetana because you find yourself singing along to his lyrical music and wishing you were some place else. 🌄

I've been reading an excellent book* by J. Schröder written for performers of Bach's violin works and baroque playing technique. I think it has some pertinent points relevant to this question, some of which I agree with and will briefly discuss below. 

The exact sound and expression of music from earlier eras is basically impossible to recreate, let alone authentically. So we are not listening to the same sound production as the original audiences would have heard. Indeed, the instruments are rarely of the same period as the original music. For instance, Schröder tells us that 21st century audiences may sometimes hear a 17th century violin but this will not recreate the baroque sound because the set up of the instrument may be in accordance with the Classical, 18th century. The violinist may be using a 19th century bow together with 20th century strings. As Schröder highlights throughout his book, this not only impacts on the instrument's natural sound production but also on the musician's playing. As musicians, we need to adapt our playing technique according to the materials we are playing on or with, as far as possible, or at least be aware of the strengths and pitfalls of the instrument, strings and bow. This helps on a practical level to give us more control of the instrument. It also assists us in thinking about the extent to which we are able to, and creatively want to, partially recreate the atmosphere of early music, for instance, 17th-18th century baroque compositions. 

Perhaps one of the main attractions of Early Music for musicians is that the composers were often less prescriptive and allowed for more creative input by the musicians. For instance, baroque concertos usually give us musicians space to play a cadenza, which we can compose ourselves if we so wish. This gives the musician the space to have a direct compositional dialogue with the composer of the past and build on their musical themes, motifs and ideas. Another way we can personalize an early music piece is through adding or leaving out decorative extravagances such as trills and grace notes, giving us the freedom to express and personalise the piece as we wish. Whereas, as Vistoli points out on the Early Music Day website, such personalising and creative approaches to interpretation are no longer part of the process when playing later pieces, so he feels that:

"...one of its most fascinating peculiarities is to allow the interpreter to express themselves in many ways, and to give, even within the boundaries of the practicing"rules", the possibility to personalize that performance even more than later repertoires."

"For me, fantasy and inspiration go along with accuracy and historically informed practice." 

He's absolutely right about this. If I play a cello sonata by Vivaldi, I can add in decorative notes (sometimes suggested in my edition) as and when I please, to express myself and what I feel fits the mood of the piece. When I play a cello concerto by Boccherini, for instance, I can choose to play my own cadenza (that I have composed) for the end of a movement. Freedom of artistic expression was very important to Boccherini. And I think that's true for every musician. For example, when a royal patron commanded Boccherini to rewrite a passage in his composition, he responded by making it twice as long! 🤣👍 And he didn't change it, even when he was sacked. Now there's a good rebellious spirit! Maybe philosophers should do the same in response to peer review. Stick to what you want to say so we end up with the authentic version not an adjusted one suggested by an anonymous reviewer.

However, when I play later music, I do not have this inherent flexibility of adapting the composition by adding notes which give me the feeling of almost composing with the composer, as it were.  Having said that, I do prefer the intensely emotional tunes and atmosphere that later compositions express, especially in the Romantic Period, with the odd exception, such as Paganini, who is surprisingly categorised within the Classical Period alongside Mozart, yet his music is deeply passionate. The latter sounds more baroque-like, and so closer to Bach, whereas Paganini has the emotional style of the romantics. Equally surprising is to think of Wagner as a composer of the Romantic era given his dark, heavy-going style which has no appeal for me!

However, I leave you with this question: Should we attempt to or worry about recreating Early Music authentically given that it's an impossible task? 

I ask this because it's something I've heard promoted in masterclasses as the ideal but this isn't the full story, according to Schröder and Vistoli. 

Surely each musician should be free to interpret music from whatever period in the way they see it/feel it otherwise performances become too similar to each other? 

Pop stars are encouraged to put their own style onto a song which can lead to significant differences. A well known example is Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' which she wrote and sang in an acoustic style that sounded wistful. This song was later sung by Whitney Houston who turned it into a power ballad. One song two different interpretations! Dolly loved Whitney's interpretation. Maybe Bach would equally love various interpretations of his works if he were alive.

Maybe classical music should be more open to dramatically different interpretations of past repertoire?

I think the cellist Pablo Casals was more than happy to do this! He played Bach in a romantic style and that's how I was originally taught to play him. So perhaps we should follow in his footsteps. Certainly Bach's Cello Suites lend themselves to such reinterpretation, in my view. Even more so given there's no original copy of the Bach cello suites, therefore, we are guessing what Bach wanted. There's no definitive way of playing them. 

Nevertheless, I appreciate that I was given the opportunity to study how to adjust my playing style, musicianship and technique between early music and the Romantic Period so I enjoy playing both and find myself trying to be authentic on a modern instrument!🤔

Happy Early Music Day 2022! 🥳🎉🎊🎇🎆🥂🎼🎻🎶🎶

* Schröder, Jaap 'Bach's Solo Violin Works: A Performer's Guide' Yale University Press 2007

– 

International Cello Day (minor update)

For International Cello Day, I thought I'd go back to where it all started at the age of rising 6: the Royal Academy of Music group string classes (violin and cello) where I first learned to play the cello. As you can see in this photo I'm not playing a full sized cello that would be ridiculous at such a young age! All children start on small cellos just as they start on small violins. I could have gone either way: violin or cello? Having already started the violin earlier, I decided to choose to study the cello there because I had been keen to learn the instrument years back but it didn't happen because my mother favoured the violin. It's also a better instrument to begin with when you are little because they make tiny sized violins and Suzuki lessons were easier to find for that instrument locally 🎻. Here I am aged 3, practising the violin at home:

In the background you can see my first drum kit for kids and my astronaut suit hanging up on my playhouse, behind my bow hand. 

Before all this, I was already annoying my mother by insisting on playing her piano 🎹 instead of her 😂 when still a baby 👶. Here's a photo of me in action:

My mother taught me piano 🎹 until I went to school and so, aged 4, I started piano lessons there with an opera singer who taught music, especially at the senior school. So by the age of 6, I was playing all three instruments (and singing) as my main instruments. However, I was also still happily playing percussion instruments and the recorder for fun, alongside these four. 🙂🎵🎶🎵

So I'm passionate about children learning musical instruments. I am concerned about how much music education has suffered over the last two years, as well as the opportunities to meet up to play music or sing with others. 😒 All my singing studies have been undertaken in a group, initially with children of around my age then later with adults (men and women). 

Kids are never too young to start learning an instrument, in my view. It doesn't mean they have to become musicians, classical or otherwise, although I always wanted to be a musician, especially a cellist. But regardless of what the child chooses to do, it does enrich their life and help expand their concentration and learning capacity in subjects other than music as well.

I love music. I can't really imagine life without listening to music 🎧 or making music 🎼🎶🎵🎶🎵🎹🎻🎸💖💖💖💖💖💖

Here's a short extract from the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No.1 which I initially recorded as a music accompaniment to a ballet YouTube Short I choreographed and performed (available to view on YouTube here). Obviously, Saint-Saëns didn't intend this concerto as ballet music - I put the two together. For International Cello Day, I've posted it on SoundCloud as a sample track from my new cello album I'm working on, 'CelloRealm'. As the subtitle to the playlist for this album states, all tracks will be short extracts as tasters of the full version to be released at a later date. 

Saint-Saëns: extract from CelloRealm

#WorldPianoDay and Music Education

I know this blog is about the cello but I did say I'll stray into talking about other instruments, especially ones I learnt to play. I wish I played the piano like Barenboim or Edna Stern but that's not going to happen. Nevertheless, I did start the piano before either the cello or the violin since my mother plays the piano. I was very good at it. I could play contrary motion by the age of 4. Then my mother brought home a keyboard. She was Head of Music at the time so when I had a spare moment I'd play it. I enjoyed playing with all the features on it! My mother wasn't keen on me playing it because I'd become less interested in the piano. She had a point. I do prefer the keyboard because I can use it for arranging music in different styles/genres. However, I'm so used to having a piano around that I take it for granted. My mother lives in vain hope that one day I'll practise the piano with as much passion as the cello. But I prefer string instruments, so that's unlikely, but I think I should work at it more because here I am preaching about how all children should learn the piano while I'm not putting in the hours myself!👍

On Facebook today, I posted the following:

🎹🎼🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵💖 The piano is a beautiful instrument. It enhances any room.  Moreover, learning to play the piano is fundamental to classical music in various ways: music theory, aural skills, singing, accompanying other musicians/singers, composing and, of course, becoming a pianist. However, the piano isn't just for classical musicians. Jazz piano (Norah Jones) is one such example (I've done courses on jazz piano although I'm classically trained); pop/rock/soul/hip hop/R&B stars can play the instrument e.g. Freddie Mercury, John Legend, Carole King; Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga; Alicia Keys (learned to play Beethoven and Mozart!); comedians can also play the piano e.g. Victor Borge, Victoria Wood. It's a versatile instrument. 

The good news is now it's possible for most people to learn this instrument because you can buy a roll-up piano for a reasonable price (£15-30) and it doesn't take up much room. Lessons are expensive so we need schools to teach whole class piano which is possible with the roll up piano! So let's get kids playing piano!🎹

Is chamber music dead or a staple diet for all musicians?

When you are thinking about a musical career I don’t think you cross off any aspect of it. Your repertoire will include concertos, sonatas and recital pieces¹. Cellists may well have the goal of becoming a soloist but role models from the past show how you don’t just play with orchestras and piano accompanists as a soloist but you can also play chamber music. Many of the greats like Casals and du Pre have played in chamber ensembles. So it has always been the case that chamber music has been a component of a solo cellist’s repertoire. Everyone benefits from having a diverse repertoire because realistically you won’t have enough engagements to perform as a soloist. So it’s important to have variety in your repertoire and musicianship skills so you can respond to a range of opportunities.  

Young cellists all learn the solo repertoire, including concertos and recital pieces, irrespective of whether they wish to specialise in solo, chamber or orchestral playing. This is because they need to perform concertos, sonatas and shorter recital pieces in order to pass exams and auditions at all levels for a place (Undergraduate/Postgraduate) at a conservatoire. For instance, to audition for a place on the Royal College of Music undergraduate cello course, you need to demonstrate you can play “First movement of a concerto” and “A contrasting piece of your own choice”². Again, for a place on their taught postgraduate course, you need to prepare a “First (or significant) movement from a major concerto from the 19th or 20th century” and a “A contrasting piece of your own choice”³.  You will not need to demonstrate your ability to play chamber music with others or play within an orchestra for these main degree courses. The only other musician you are allowed to have playing with you is just the one accompanist:

“The only people in your audition room will be you, your accompanist and the audition panel.”⁴

The same is true of the Guildhall school of Music, with a few additions. For the undergraduate degree in cello, you again prepare “The 1st movement from a concerto in the standard repertory” and “One contrasting piece of the candidate's own choice.”⁵ In addition, you should prepare a listed study from the Popper High School of Cello Playing. Obviously the solo repertoire is still taught at undergraduate level and seen as an important way to assess proficiency in cello playing because to progress onto their postgraduate degree for Advanced Instrumental Studies, you again need to play “The first movement of a concerto from the standard repertoire with cadenza” and “The first movement of a duo sonata (with piano) written after 1800” in your audition⁶. Indeed, the extra element to prepare here for postgraduate study involves demonstrating you can play without any accompaniment at all: “One movement of unaccompanied Bach”⁷. As far as I can see, there are no chamber music qualifications or degrees at these two conservatoires. If you want to specialise in chamber music, you take an optional module/s eg Guildhall School of Music but this is only if you already have a fair amount of chamber music experience and are part of an ensemble, then you put your ensemble forward for consideration for a postgrad option. Afterwards, auditions for joining an orchestra require performing a concerto as a soloist eg Haydn. So the solo repertoire remains highly relevant, even for those who become orchestral players. It is the solo repertoire that is the staple diet for a cellist, not chamber music. The solo cello repertoire, including concertos, sonatas, recital pieces and unaccompanied pieces are also generally considered to be the best music written for the cello. For the top 10, see:

thttps://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/instruments/cello/features/best-cello-pieces/

If a cellist doesn’t learn these, s/he is missing out on the best cello music ever written!

So, just like everyone else, I learnt a core repertoire of concertos and recital pieces eg Waldesruhe (Dvorak), Vocalise (Rachmaninoff), The Swan (Saint Saens), sonatas and unaccompanied pieces eg Bach Suites. The purpose was to perform them with pianists or otherwise. I loved technique be it Sevcik for the violin or Feuillard, Franchomme and Popper for the cello. I was even taught some interestingly difficult exercises made up by Rostropovich. At a young age it was all about technique and performance (including reading the score carefully and interpreting how to play what’s written in it) because these are physical skills that are very demanding so it helps to train your fingers to be capable of complex dexterity. The history and musicology behind the music can be learnt just as easily and better when an adult. I think history does play a part in understanding a piece but it doesn’t warrant a deep study of it at a young age. This can be incorporated as and when relevant later to acquire a deeper appreciation of a piece of music and examine how to play it authentically. This is, however, difficult to ascertain because original first publications of scores did not always reflect the composer’s wishes and some were more vocal than others about how representative the score was of their intentions. There is no one objective source to consult which tells us exactly what the composer wanted. Some composers were more prescriptive compared with others who preferred the instrumentalist to have more freedom of interpretation. There are also many different arrangements which, by definition, do not replicate the original score and vary in how much they take the composer’s possible wishes into consideration eg in expression markings. Some pieces are transposed for a different instrument. While some are transposed for a related instrument eg violin to cello, others are unrelated eg horn to cello. Transposing, especially between unrelated instruments, means the instrument, as well as the musician, will express the music very differently from the instrument for which it was originally written. So when we refer to authentic renditions of a piece, what do we mean? What is and isn’t completely authentic is itself open to interpretation.  

Furthermore, there’s nothing wrong with reinterpreting the score and giving it a new, fresh approach. Some may view this as being almost a cross-over style but I think all musicians, classical or not, have made the pieces their own in some way throughout the ages. It’s unavoidable. Much as a writer has their own voice so a musician has theirs. Therefore, the way musicians interpret a piece of music will vary from person to person. Even classical drama eg Shakespeare is often given a contemporary interpretation. We don’t think a contemporary production of a period play is automatically worse simply because it isn’t an historically authentic production. We value the new light it sheds on the play as much as productions which re-enact the original play and the staging of it. Many of ‘the greats’ in the past approached cello pieces in this way eg Casals’ unique interpretation and recording of the Bach Suites. Singers are expected to make songs in their repertoire their own so why shouldn’t instrumentalists? I’m not saying never be authentic but it’s not entirely realistic to be so since we haven’t lived in the composer’s era or often even close to it!

To answer my question, I don’t think chamber music is dead and never has been but neither is it a staple diet for musicians. Many musicians try to be part of a chamber ensemble in the same way as most tennis players play doubles, at some point in their career, not just singles. Is it necessary to play chamber music? No, it isn’t. Just as a few top singles tennis players opt out of doubles it’s perfectly fine for a soloist eg cellist to do likewise and opt out of playing regularly in chamber ensembles and orchestras. They are not less good musicians or tennis players because they haven’t done so. They may well prefer to focus on one specialisation be it singles for a tennis player or as a soloist for a musician. It’s not something everyone wants to do but if they do then their focus may yield unique insights into the solo repertoire. Similarly, top tennis players, especially on the men’s tour, don’t play doubles eg Nadal but he brings something special to the court much as Serena Williams does in the women’s game.

It’s the musician’s choice. Music is a creative process not an academic pursuit so a literal interpretation is not as paramount as expressing an unique voice and providing listeners with an aesthetic experience.   

¹ Based on my comments on Steven Isserlis’s post ‘Some good news, amidst somewhat surreal times?’ 7/3/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1292516914129934&id=191956057519364

² http://www.rcm.ac.uk/strings/auditionrequirements/

 ³ ibid

⁴ ibid

⁵ https://www.gsmd.ac.uk/music/principal_study/strings_harp_and_guitar/auditions/#c405

⁶ ibid

⁷ ibid

What’s the difference between listening and really listening?

One of my earlier cello teachers would constantly say ‘You have to REALLY listen!’ (I use uppercase because she emphasized that word)¹. I’ve spent the rest of my life hearing that phrase in my head and repeating it. I’ve always remembered it despite not fully appreciating what it meant at the time. I thought: I am listening! What more can I do? What’s the difference between listening and really listening? Over the years I’ve come to realise two things. One, there are many ways of listening as a musician, many of which we take for granted. Two, there’s also different levels of intensity and concentration involved when listening to yourself and others.  

I started learning the violin and cello within group classes (3 & 5/6yrs of age respectively). It was fun playing with them as a group. This starts a child on the road to really listening which is of great value in itself and probably the best way to start learning an instrument rather than having individual lessons. In addition, I attended classes at a well-known theatre school from a very early age. So I had already learnt to listen, co-ordinate and co-operate with others whether it be playing classical instruments, singing, dancing, acting, musical theatre or working as a large group when putting on a show. In retrospect, I have come to appreciate the diversity of musical experience I was exposed to as a child which helped me later. It’s similar to sport. If you want to be a professional tennis player it’s a good idea to play other sports too when you’re younger. Likewise, if you want to be a professional musician it helps to participate in a wide range of musical experiences and genres. So, for me, working with others, including musically, comes naturally.

Really listening to your playing as well as the musicians around you is not a skill that is unique to playing with an orchestra or playing chamber music. All musicians in every genre need to develop these various musicianship skills. For instance, it makes no sense for a singer to go off on their own tangent leaving musicians to keep up as best they can. That would be a cacophony. Take a pop star, such as, Celine Dion. She is a solo singer but, nevertheless, has backing singers and a band. All of them have to co-ordinate and synchronize otherwise no-one will come to the concerts! There are often certain chords or drum beats that cue the singer to land certain notes and if this isn’t timed absolutely correctly then the song falls apart. Equally, Celine can’t just speed up in the middle of a song when she feels like it because it would confuse her backing singers and band and they’ll end up out of sync with her. Unhappy backers, unhappy band and one unhappy audience who couldn’t sing along to their favourite song.

It’s the same with classical musicians. The soloist is important but not to the extent that the conductor and orchestra are left to fend for themselves while s/he plays the concerto as s/he hears it in her head without paying any attention to the musical dialogue between soloist and orchestra. As for conductors, I don’t think paying attention to a conductor or choir leader should replace being sensitive to what’s going on around you musically. Conductors or choir leaders add something different to the mix. For instance, they give cues to improve anticipation, timing, and help a large group of musicians or singers gel together with ease. They impart musical ideas and feedback as and when needed.

Listening to yourself helps you maintain perfect pitch and intonation as well as a good tonal quality. It also trains you to have an ear for simultaneously listening to yourself and others with whom you are making music as well as how your combined efforts blend together musically and aesthetically. In addition, you have to be quick enough to adapt and adjust to the musicians around you and the conductor/leader in a matter of milliseconds to keep a balance between pre-prepared interpretation and an element of spontaneity within the musical interactions. So, for instance, in a concerto, it’s a dialogue between soloist and orchestra. It’s always a matter of knowing when to, figuratively speaking, talk and when to listen. If the two (soloist, orchestra) don’t do this and talk over each other it ceases to be a musical conversation, loses meaning and becomes a mess. The same applies to singing or playing a musical instrument accompanied by a pianist. When playing my cello repertoire with my cello teacher accompanying me on the piano, I found myself listening to what I was playing as well as what she was playing as an accompaniment and remembering to complement her to create a harmonious sound. This skill also translated well when singing pop and musical theatre songs with my singing teachers accompanying me and/or us singing as a group.

So to return to my two points at the beginning. What you take for granted is the variety of ways you listen as a musician:

1)      You listen to your playing/singing but not in a general way which merely results in you hearing yourself. You train your ear to pick up the slightest changes of pitch and tonal quality and learn how to make constant tiny adjustments to maintain consistency and perfection. Nobody achieves 100% perfection but we all have to strive for it to provide the best possible experience for the listener/audience.

Furthermore, different genres have different pitches. Classical music has the highest pitch, making its standard pitch slightly sharper than the norm. Some pop singers, especially divas, use a more classical pitch while most others’ pitch is slightly flatter to varying degrees. Musical theatre singers are mostly around the norm in pitch although those with some classical background may be closer to a classical pitch. Country and folk singers generally have a flatter pitch but there are exceptions such as Dolly Parton. Some genres have their own scale. For instance, the blues scale flattens the 3^rd, 7^th and sometimes 5^th even though it is a major scale. In classical music, minor scales characteristically have a flattened/minor sound so composers use this scale to write music in a minor key to depict sad emotions as opposed to major scales and keys which are typically seen as conveying happiness. Musicians nearly always choose one pitch and sing or play everything according to it.

I sing and play the cello (and other instruments) according to classical pitch, partly because that was how I was taught as a child and partly for technical reasons, such as it keeps you more reliably in tune. However, when making music with others, especially when singing with others, it is very useful to be aware of their type of pitch and adjust accordingly so you blend with them and avoid pitch clashes. This is part of what my cello teacher meant by REALLY listening: develop your listening skills so you pick up on small details and not just the general picture.  

2)      Pitch isn’t the only aspect of music you need to attune your ear to in order to have musical awareness. Other aspects include tempo, rhythm, rests, when and how others are beginning and ending notes, their colouring, timbre and volume. All this takes a huge amount of concentration and intensity. This is the difference between listening and REALLY listening. You cease to listen to music like a non-musician who can relax and let the music wash over them. For the musician, it’s a matter of combining all these different types of listening with heightened awareness and concentration and being attentive to the minutest details in sound production. It’s not a passive process but a constant, active process of analytical, critical listening.

¹Based on my comment on facebook in response to Steven Isserlis’s post: ‘All the World’s a (chamber music) stage…’ 28/06/2017 available at:

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1417096905005267&id=191956057519364