I was recently working with a student on the cello part of a scene from a movie. The scene was in a very emotional section of the movie, which called for equally emotional music. We worked on the technical aspect of the music for several weeks until it was time to focus on the emotional aspect. At that point we set the music aside, and I asked her to play one note to represent the emotion of the entire scene. She did, and it was incredible. Her artistic perception allowed her to represent with one note what she felt when she watched the scene on the screen.
“It may seem simple to play one note, but what was contained within that one note she played was everything she knows about music, the cello, and what it is like to be a human who has the ability to empathize.
“Technically, to play that one note she had to learn how to produce a great tone with her bow, have accurate intonation, apply dynamics, and add vibrato. Each one of these attributes takes hours and hours of practice to develop. Putting them all together is a whole other challenge of its own. And after all that, in order to pour emotion into it takes the ability to operate the instrument subconsciously while focusing on the meaning behind the music.
Many times musicians (students and professionals) get carried away with the complexity of music in order to display their abilities. They take on music that is more and more difficult in order to ‘master’ the instrument. However, the ability to play one note should not be overlooked. It took my student a whole lifetime of being a human and many years as a cello student in order to play that one note.
~Jason Theiste
