A Voice of Chopin

On Saturday the Suzuki Piano Teachers Guild held a workshop with Tadeusz Majewski. Twelve advanced students from our teachers participated in the masterclasses. Mr. Majewski also gave us an hour long lecture on the life and works of Chopin.

It was a magnificently lovely day. I'm still high.  Like the birds he kept talking about in reference to Chopin.

I had never met Mr. Majewski. He is the known Chopin expert in town, founder of the Chopin Society. We did not know if he would be kind or mean or fostering or judgmental.

He started off the morning by sharing how Chopin grew up in a house of music. Everyone in the family was musical and they studied literature and music and singing and piano. It was this wonderful environment that built Chopin and his legacy. Hmmmm. What does that sound like? Do I hear a nurtured by love? 

He shared his own concern that when his exceptional son goes off to conservatory, that anyone would cause him to feel that there was something "wrong" with him and try to fix him. That music should be full of expression, what we have to express can never be wrong. Never the feeling that something needs to be fixed, or tampered with, or made to feel less than whole. While we can, be must protect our children from these feelings. Their own instincts are to be trusted.

My mind was at rest. You can see from the photos there was nothing but joy the whole day.

I can't possibly share all the inspiration we felt--it wouldn't be the same without the Polish accent. He talked about Chopin's wish to be one with nature. And his loves and losses and how they shaped his compositions.  "How does that change the way you play this, knowing it was written the summer his beloved sister died at seventeen years old. . . "

Gulp.

Since the Opus Posthumous Nocturne in C-sharp minor is in the Suzuki repertoire, teachers and students might be interested to know that the B section melody, starting in measure 21, is a quote from a Polish song, "Maiden's Wish" and this would have been a "code" to his love Maria, whose father would not let them marry. The Maiden's Wish has lyrics something like "what would I give to only be a sunshine at your window, or a bird at your window."  I lost it in the Polish. Wink. I don't know Polish. Please correct me if I'm wrong. . .

It was something my Baldwin had never experienced when Mr. Majewski performed and sang the little art song in Polish during the lecture recital. Not to mention the polonaise.

I guess I won't be needing a new piano. Turns out the Baldwin is fine. Any lack of tone is user error. He also played all six of the Mazurkas I played on my graduate recital. (Baldwin did recognize those. . . ) That was really, really, fun.  Mr. Majewski, if you ever make your way to this blog, thank you so much for the gift of this day, we truly hope to have you back again sometime!

Here are a couple quotes to close:

Chopin said regarding his high story apartment in Paris and also as a metaphor of his life, "Everybody admires the view. Nobody envies the stairs."  Even Chopin earned it.

Mr. Majewski said something like. . . we all have something to say in life. Eventually people stop listening to the piano and they are only listening to you.

You through the music.

My teacher Doris is always all about the musical message. We all have something to say through the music, we learn and grow to figure out how to say it easier--to get the notes and the technique out of the way.  But just like Chopin, we have to climb the steps first, before we get the view.