Olympians and Pianists

It’s time for the winter Olympics again. Tomoko’s daughter Beata competed as an ice dancer in the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City (convenient for her, but not as exotic as South Korea). Tomoko attended those Olympic Games, naturally, and often accompanied Beata to other skating competitions. In the process, Tomoko has seen many parallels between Olympians and pianists.

Fundamentally, both fields depend on the body and its mastery. Both fields require detailed physical coordination. Just as there is a correct foot position, there is also a correct hand position. Furthermore, training the body requires discipline and daily practice.  Basic moves need to become automatic, and even an entire performance has to be mastered so well that that one can depend on muscle memory. Both fields also involve rhythmic movement, and music certainly facilitates the body’s flow. 

Training and support are also similar. The teacher makes a significant difference in the student’s learning experience. In both cases, students need to learn the basic techniques, and practice them dutifully – and correctly.  The teacher selects the developmentally appropriate pieces or routines for the student to master, and there is a “canon” of classics in each case. The teacher is both supportive and challenging; targeting the trouble spots – and helping the student see them as personal challenges to overcome. The teacher has to be sure that the student pays attention to every detail, and master it, at which point the student can add personal interpretation to deepen the performance.

Competition is another shared hallmark. In both cases, competition usually starts locally and low-stakes. Years of practice and performance are needed before one can enter and succeed at the national level. The higher the stakes, the more complicated the performance and the more exacting the judging. Both the stress level and the level of accomplishment are higher. But the payoff and the exhilarating feeling are worth the effort hopefully.

So when you hear the music of an ice skating or ice dancing performance at the Olympics, think of the music and the musicians too. They are all professionals in spirit. 

The Dynamic Tension of Music

Music opens the mind, the heart, and the soul. Yet at the same time, music demands parameters. Its is both open and closed, external and internal.

“To play well you need to be open to the music,” says Tomoko. “What is the composer trying to say? What is the composer thinking and feeling?” Tomoko says.

As a pianist, you access the music with your eyes. Then you internalize that music, informed by the composer’s intent. Tomoko shares her knowledge about these musicians to help her students understand the music’s origin and its context. She reminds her students, “Be true to the composer”; they are working with a closed set of musical notation. Finally, as a pianist, you externalize that composition through your body: your mind and heart flow through your arms, your fingers, even your feet. Such attention to the structure and dynamics of music leads to its ultimate freedom of expression.

Those same openness applies to the audience. They experience the music with their whole body: eyes, ears, even the felt rhythm and beat of the music can reverberate through the body. That music touches the person internally in the head and heart.

How can a limited set of tones, performed in sequence, lead to seemingly limitless variations and musical experiences? Tomoko would say that it is the miracle of the composers’ openness to musical possibilities – and the disciplined use of musical form to express internal inspiration to compose a new reality for others to enjoy.