Solitary Confinement

I read this article the other day. It really made me feel better about the 4+ hours I spend locked in a practice room every. single. day. I've always been introverted, but my lack of social-ness is something I've been thinking on lately. I'm not trying to imply that I need to overhaul my life. I'm a quiet person, and I like spending time by myself. But I think pianists often tend to drift into a sort of isolated, self-absorbed cocoon. I'm trying to remedy this for myself by doing more collaborative work. Accompanying is always fun. I'm taking ensemble next semester. (The ever-talented Mario Barbosa and I are duo partners, and we are going to shake Baylor to its very foundation with our phenomenal piano duo skills. Just fyi.) It will be good.

However, I do think this is a problem (for lack of a better word) among classical musicians, or at least pianists. And I do believe that it is limited to classical musicians. I read this little post on the same day. He's essentially saying that folk musicians have something going on with this whole community thing, that they tend to value communion with other musicians over individual talent. I don't have much insight into the world of folk music, so I can't comment on its verity. (My fiance is a folk musician of sorts, but he's as much a musical perfectionist as I am, so he might not represent the general idea very well.) I don't think that pianists should all suddenly stop caring about playing well, but it might be nice to get back to that original communal role of music.