The Many Façades of Music

Written by Joshua Iyer
Published: November 9, 2013 at 8:12 PM [UTC]

Music is a wonderful thing, as we all know, but recently I've been thinking about what (specifically orchestral) music does throughout each year. For example, at this current time of year, I'm starting "A Christmas Festival" in orchestra and enjoying videos of festive players playing. Whenever I play that piece, I think of bright lights and Christmas trees and snow and hot chocolate. It's a very cozy feeling, and it's a lot of fun to play Christmas music. However, come June of 2014, I'm going to be composing a score for "The King of the Aliens" (that film I mentioned in my last post that the symphony is based off), and this score is in no way related to Anderson's Christmas medley, yet still both use violins; both use an orchestra. But isn't that the great thing about music? It always keeps us on our toes, gives us more things to practice and prepare every day. Composers come out with new things every day, and yet we are still always looking back at Vivaldi, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky. That's what makes music amazing, and especially as violinists, there are many, many things for us to practice. We don't play everything in the world; we pick and choose what we like. Specifically related to orchestral music, we can play one of the violin parts in a classical Mahler symphony or we can explain the wonders of winter in Vivaldi's violin concerto; we can explain an epic war in The Lord of the Rings with the rest of the orchestra, or we can weep (in the music) as the main character's friend dies; we can play sul ponticello at Halloween, or we can be a part of the joyous "Jingle Bells" with sleigh bells at Christmas. No matter what instrument you play (although I was specifically mentioning the violin), there is always something for you to do every day. And that is why music is the best thing on this world. That is why my violin is my absolute favorite object ever. And why things will always stay this way.

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