Moving the spirit with classical music

The five-piano concert with its repertoire of nine songs separated us from the evil music of the world to the heavenly music of the spirit. For a moment, the audience was transported to a different period and transformed into a different being as the rhythm and melody of Franz von Suppe’s “Overture,” Johann Strauss’ “Danube Waltz” and Peter Tschaikowsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” were played.

Nothing compares to the refreshing, moving spirit of classical music. For those who attended the five-piano concert in the evening of Dec. 1, it was a moment to cherish. The repertoire found our hearts leaping, our sensibilities soothed and our spirits enriched in delightful ways we could not have imagined. There was something in Schubert’s “Serenade” that found us captivated. There was something joyful about the “noise” in Khachaturian’s “Sabre Dance” that stirred our mood in a different way.

The blessing-filled evening was rendered with the powerful and soulful performances of artists Menchi Ybud, Junjun Abescar, Neca Caingles, Noneluna Deligero, Aida Labra and Anita Transmonte in specially arranged five-piano masterpieces. All belong to the Piano Teachers Guild of Cebu. The evening was enjoyable even as the performers left an inevitable cognitive tune that somehow plays in the heart again and again.

In many ways it was a breath of space. These days we are bombarded with the sound of noise – not by our own choice – but by the maneuverings of the world around us. Music these days is like the oxygen we breathe. We don’t see it, but it’s there. We don’t feel it, but when it is snatched from us, we know we need it. We are not aware of it, but it has already intruded our cognitive realm.

Wherever we are, however we are and whenever we are there is music. Whether in offices, in schools, homes, in malls, in buses, in cars, in churches, there is music. Music has become more pervasive and invasive rather than selective. So much so that sensory bombardment of music influences our mind by the psychological effect of music, our spirit by how music affects our mood and how we relate to others and our flesh or by how our body responds to music. If you’ve had a bad day, it might be the kind of music you are listening.

Where music can now be produced electronically and where there is so much materialism and commercialism, we have become deprived of our rights to select the music we want to hear. In public places or onboard public transport, we are often compelled and persuaded to listen to music that we don’t need and that our sensibilities cannot bear. Loud, discordant sound of rock music can wreak havoc to our psychological make-up, prosaic advertising jingles insult the intelligence and even seemingly innocent rhythm and blues music can distort our morality and view of things. But because these are being rammed into our minds that we tend to end up being seized and riveted by it unconsciously. Most of the music record and advertising companies ram in our beings is noise or sensory pollution that our spirit and body don’t need.

Separate

The five-piano concert with its repertoire of nine songs separated us from the evil music of the world to the heavenly music of the spirit. For a moment, the audience was transported to a different period and transformed into a different being as the rhythm and melody of Franz von Suppe’s “Overture,” Johann Strauss’ “Danube Waltz” and Peter Tschaikowsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” were played.

The piano is a powerful orchestra. Here lies the profound difference between music produced from a piano and those from electronic instruments. When music is performed in its purest form like the piano, it gets into and pierces the mind and the spirit while electronically produced music touches only the flesh. When the music ends, the audience is left with an empty, bland feeling. Unlike music produced from the piano where it leaves a lingering sound in the senses. That the concert was performed in five pianos was really like a full orchestra in itself. Hence the audience experienced the rich soulful sound of Antonin Dvorak’s “Slavonic Dance.”

Then again, the piano is one thing. How a pianist touches the keys is how the pianist communicates with the audience. Touch has a profound effect in bringing out the passion, raising the passion and sustaining the passion in the audience. Pianists must be able to touch the keys in powerful, precise ways to produce rich tones as the artists in the five piano concert had performed.

These days, we miss out the pleasure and opportunity of enjoying rich music in its purest form because we let electronic music invade our mind and body. But if we were moved in spirit with the five-piano concert, it is time to launch a movement that would make classical music the soul of our culture. In our everyday life, in our chaotic world – rich, classical music could be the best thing we need. It’s not a matter of choice.