| Latest information and Ideas |
| as I come across them |
Many students want to create music that has a certain emotional quality. For example, I once had a student ask me to show her how to play something that sounded happy.
Of course, this student missed the entire point of my teaching – to play where you are emotionally and to not try and come up with something. I tried to explain to her that if she were feeling happy, then the natural outcome of the music would be flavored with this emotion.
If you’ve ever looked at a flower garden, not only its beauty may have captivated you, but also its overall arrangement.
There may have been some tulips or roses combined with other flowers or plants.
The gong is one of the oldest musical instruments in the world. Archaeologists have unearthed gongs built almost four thousand years ago. No wonder when we hear a gong we feel like we are being touched in our soul.
The earliest written mention of the gong was in China in the 6th century. In these ancient documents the Chinese claim that another culture from Central Asia introduced it to them. While we can’t be certain which culture created the gong, it’s safe to say the sound resonated with the Chinese and that they made the gong their own.