April 23, 2005 at 10:16 AM

...On Muses and Music (taken from a recent discussion)

What better inspiration for creating music is there than love? You've perhaps experienced the student who would bend over backwards for you because they have a secret crush on you, right? Or perhaps you hear a recording of a violin concerto that absolutely moves you like nothing else, and that passion feeds you for months or even years as you practice in your studio.

Music in itself can be the muse. It can take the form of a life-long goal piece, or just a brief fling with a fugue that you can't seem to stop playing. For my students, most of the time, inspiration takes the form of a song that they really like the sound of, and the desire to make the music is so strong that they can come back in a week and be a completely different musician because of it; they devote hours to learning the piece, when before, they wouldn't touch their instrument. I'm on a constant search for pieces that inspire. It's a pure-music-muse, I guess. My personal long-term goal piece that has served as my "muse" in this sense is Saint Saen's Intro and Rondo. But this is not a personified muse.

A personified muse, in a way, plays the same role as a musical inspiration. I try to be an inspiration myself for my students by being positive, fun, driven, and passionate about music. It rubs off. I get more out of them by inspiring them than by criticizing them into the ground. In this case, I'm trying to be their personal muse (in a purely platonic way).

So, we're focusing on the muse that is someone--familiar, ideal, or even fiction--that inspires. Think of it as a crush, a flame, or a life-long passion.

My personal muse is a real person--now idealised because of complete unfamiliarity and physical expanse--that once was my childhood figurative musical hero, and literally the boy down the street. He means absolutely nothing to me now... except that he has always been an underlying reason I strive to create music, and shows up randomly as a symbol in my music-related dreams. Therefore, he must be a muse. He is entwined in the subconscious part of my being, and can be fed or denied at will, but never dies.

How does the muse work? Often times, it's simply that I imagine I'm playing for him, I guess to please him. Honestly, I imagine this every time I practice, come to think of it. It helps me along to pretend that I have someone of importance to impress, a significant ideal to appease. It could never work with a concrete reality; it's the embodied ideal that appeals.

From ernest m l lambert
Posted on April 23, 2005 at 9:17 PM

my violin is caspar da salo in brescia 1590 what do i have.

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on April 23, 2005 at 10:15 PM

'Bout a million bux maybe. Don't leave it in your car.

From Kristin Damore
Posted on April 24, 2005 at 3:18 PM

I enjoyed your entry about your muse. Your story of who your muse is is very similar to mine. It was nice to see that someone has had the same expierence, because sometimes I wonder if I am crazy for it. lol Loved the entry.
~Kristin~

From jennifer steinfeldt warren
Posted on April 24, 2005 at 4:09 PM

I have done this all of my life. Mostly teachers and coaches and sometimes doctors. It has always worked to help me grow as a person and as a musician. It motivates me and gives me drive. Over the last year I have been floundering a bit because I have not had a person to inspire and motivate me in my life. My muse or mentor...well, she became a real person to me. We had a real relationship (in the sense that i didn't idealize her as something she is not or maybe is, but developed rapport and friendship and she entered into my real life). That caused the muse role she played to disappear. I often wondered as well if I was crazy for doing this, but I don't think I am. I always have aspired to be the kind of person who someone else at some point can look up to with almost obsessed eyes with the goal to create music or in some cases, just push themselves to be the best that they can at what they are aspiring to do in order to get my attention or impress me. It has actually happened a few times on a smaller scale and the feeling it gave me was one I have been searching for and still search for. Meaning. Purpose. There is nothing wrong with this. Music can be a muse in itself, yes, but we need real life people to use it with. To give it to. To get it from. To make it dimentional in an everyday way. A reason to get the violin out of the case AFTER the days when you are held in magical suspension while learning the piece at the beginning. Well. I ramble. This is an important aspect of my life and of music, though.So I wanted to comment.:).
Sals,
JW

From Emily Grossman
Posted on April 24, 2005 at 10:50 PM

See, I think there are many people who understand this phenomenon. It's just not talked about much, probably because it's better as a secret. I feel like I somehow violated the guidelines of muses simply by speaking of it, and I halfway wonder if I'll break the magic spell.

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April 23, 2005 at 10:16 AM

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