学文网What is the spiritual aspect of music?
I remember vividly my two years of lessons with 1)Vladimir Horowitz and how I felt when I first met him. It was as if I was transported onto a movie set of my past memories of seeing him on television, since those films were made at his home on 94th street in Manhattan. And there I was,
sitting across from the pianist I had so much
admired all my life.
We would have two to three hour lessons and at certain times I was invited to be his guest for dinner before the lesson, which was a rare treat. Our conversations would cover a
variety of topics: some were profound and others friendly and comical. We once talked about how some pieces had an overall masculine feeling, while others, like a 2)nocturne or soft piece were more feminine, or passive. There would also be pieces that would not apply to such a generalization, such as the 3)Polonaise-Fantasie of Chopin.
Perhaps the masculine/feminine way of looking at a piece of music is directly related to our emotional
nature and how we respond emotionally to music.
Once, when talking about concerts and audiences, he said that a large percentage of the people in his audiences would immediately
respond to his brilliant technique, or how he would play the 4)virtuosic, showy pieces. Of that larger percentage, maybe 30--40% would respond on the emotional level, or to the musicality of his interpretations; the mood or feel of the piece. He would then say that it would be only about 2--5% of the audience that was 5)in tune to what he was doing spiritually. He must have really been aware of his audiences and sensitive to them.
I wonder if the larger group may have still been responding spiritually, but perhaps on a more subconscious level. It would seem that audiences often do have an instinctive know-ledge of what a “good” performance is.
It would seem to me that the spiritual
nature of music is that music is a reflection, or mirrored image of the something heavenly or not of this world. It exists as an invitation perhaps to another way of living, beyond the
everyday concerns that we all seem to get caught up with. Music can take us someplace and take us away from our troubles, but whether we choose to live out lives that way is entirely our choice. The music is a reflection. If it were heaven or the 6)divine itself, then people would surely be transformed once hearing a piece of music, and they rarely are. We usually go back to our basic way of living.
Perhaps we all have an invitation of some sort when we hear music of a spiritual nature, an invitation to another
way of living that is there for anyone. I would think that the mirror is in some way inviting us to this way of living, or maybe letting us know that there is more to life than all that we sometimes get caught up in.
Music has always been a very special part of my life and I am thankful for the experiences I have had when sharing my music with people and the feedback they give me. I sometimes wonder if it really does make a diffe-rence? But when I do, I will quickly get a reminder from a fan that a piece of mine saved them from depression, or that they love to hear my CDs throughout the day, and that is a beautiful feeling: to know that perhaps it really is making a difference.
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音乐的精神特质是什么？
我还清楚地记得师从弗拉基米尔・霍洛维茨学习的那两年的经历，以及当我第一次见到他时的感受。就像是我被传送到了一套电影装置上，那里回放着我从电视中观看他表演的旧时记忆，因为那些影片都是在他位于曼哈顿第94大道的家里拍摄的。而现在我就在那里，坐在了这位我一生都无比崇敬的钢琴家面前。
我们会上两到三个小时的课，而某些时候在上课前他会邀请我一起用餐，那可是难得的款待。我们谈论的话题无所不包：有些意义深远，有些则友好而滑稽。有一次我们谈到了有些乐章给人的感觉完全是纯男性的；而另一些，如夜曲或柔和的乐章给人的感觉则更为女性化，或者说更被动。也有一些乐章不适用于这样的概括，如肖邦的《幻想波兰舞曲》。
也许用男性化/女性化的方式来看待一篇乐章是直接源于我们的情感天性，以及我们如何从感情上对音乐产生共鸣。
有一次，当谈论起音乐会和观众时，他说他的观众中大部分都能立刻对他高超的演奏技巧，或者他精湛而精彩地弹奏乐章做出回应。在那一部分观众中，可能有30--40%的人能从情感层面，或者他所演绎的音感――乐章的情绪或感觉――做出回应。他接着说，只有大约2--5%的观众能在精神上与他相交融。他应该真的是非常了解他的观众，才能够观其所感。
我也很想知道，大部分的观众是不是也会在精神上有所回应，只不过是处于一种更加无意识的状态的。似乎观众们常常能凭直觉分辨出什么是“好的”表演。
对于我来说，音乐的精神特质似乎即是音乐是一种折射，或者说是对某种天堂有而现世无的东西的镜像反映。它的存在也许就像是另一种生活方式的邀请，超出了我们每日所关注的凡尘杂事，而我们似乎全都被牵绊于其中了。音乐能将我们带到另一个地方，远离烦恼，但我们是否想要过这样的生活则完全是我们自己的选择。音乐只是一种折射。如果说它本身即是天堂或上帝，那么人们只要听一首乐曲自然就会发生转变，而这种事情却很少发生。我们通常还是会回到自己基本的生活方式中去。
也许当我们倾听到音乐的精神特质时，我们都收到了一份邀请，请我们去过另一种每个人都能过的生活。我会认为那种镜像在以某种方式邀请我们去过那种生活，或者是让我们知道，虽然我们不时被生活所牵绊，但生活的真义远不止这么多。
在我的生活中，音乐一直是非常特殊的一部分，而能够与人们分享音乐且得到回应，这样的经历总是让我心怀感激。我有时候也在想，我的音乐是否真的会给别人的生活带来不同的感受？但每次这样想的时候，乐迷的回复总是让我很快清醒过来，他们说我的一首乐曲将他们从沮丧中拯救了出来，或者他们喜欢整日听我的CD，那种感觉很美――知道音乐也许真的正让一切变得不同。
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