This week’s blog installment, (Number 4 for 2018), is the follow-up to last week: Music and Math.
We left off with the question: How do you, the musician, use analytical processes to get the most out of your music? To answer that, let’s use an illustration.
When you’d like to buy something and don’t have the money, you typically save up enough until you do. You may keep track of the difference between what you need, call it ‘x’, versus what you have and the sum total of what you want.
Music is no different. If you want to be able to play something that you’re not currently able to, then you have to invest time to be able to perform it as you’d like to. It could also be called ‘x’.
I hear someone commenting as they read this: ‘I don’t want to spend all that time practicing!’ Okay, I get it. But, what values do you invest in your musicianship? Do you want a half-hearted musical performance or one that moves and inspires? Do you think that someone will really like your music if you haven’t worked on it? As has been said: “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”
You may also say: ‘Some people just have natural talent and it comes easy for them.’ While the first part of that statement is true, the second part is not. No one can get around the requirement to work on their craft! It’s as natural as the day is long.
Tip: Find what interests you in your musical endeavors and pursue it relentlessly. For me, learning music theory and how it correlated with my guitar playing helped me understand what I was striving to achieve so much better. The mathematical enumerations of scales and composition just fascinate me to this day!
Another important aspect of working on your music is that it becomes ever more 'natural' to you. Just as walking is a learned response as a child, music is a learned art that must be repeated over and over. Eventually it will be become second-nature. So you don't want to miss that opportunity by giving up, do you?
That’s all for this installment. There is a lot more that could be discussed and written on this subject, but the point of this blog is to stimulate YOUR thinking and YOUR creativity. If there's another aspect about the relationship of music and math you'd like to hear more about, drop me a line at: Info@GentleHavenMusic.com and I’ll address it in another blog.
