New Age Piano Music and Those Who Hate It
I’ll never forget the first time I read the joke “What do you get when you play New Age music backwards.” The answer really cracked me up… “You get New Age music.”
It’s a point that’s well taken. But the people who put down and criticize this style of music are really missing the point. You see, New Age music isn’t about trying to create sophisticated sonatas or perfect preludes.
It’s really about a feeling - a feeling that goes through you, allows you to relax, and perhaps take a breath from the hectic pace of life. It’s about spirit allowing the music to flow through you and transport you to a more peaceful place.
Still, there are those who insist
...as the excellent Korg CA-30, offer an extremely quick, easy and effective way of tuning the guitar. The instructions for using such a tuner are quite simple:Turn the tuner on by pressing the power button.Pick the low e string open. ...
Well, they have one part right. It’s definitely not to be taken seriously. It’s to be enjoyed - a concept that many “serious” musicians have a problem understanding. And this is really not their fault.
Academic snobbism in the music world does exist. It equates “good” music with “sophisticated” music. But not only is this a useless comparison, it’s harmful as well.
The simple truth of the matter is we like what we like. As soon as you try and instruct someone on why they should like something - whether it’s because it’s supposed to be good, or because it’s considered to
...out of them. Performance anxiety can happen even when we play for ourselves. The critical parent shows up even when we're playing alone. I had to help them overcome that critical parent first.The second prong was simply to build up ...
Because once you lose trust in yourself, once you start to doubt what you really like, you’ll start to lose an important part of yourself. That innocent trusting part that simply knows what you like and love and doesn’t need someone to point it out
Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music’s online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!