Some cultures use music as a form of entertainment and a way to express the human soul. For others, it holds a much deeper meaning. Cultures like India strongly believe that sound alone triggered a chain of events that led to the birth of the universe and from this sacred sound came music. Music is perhaps one of the most versatile forms of expression between cultures, but no matter the difference it speaks to us all in a way we can understand because music is universal. In the famous words of novelist Arnold Bennet, “Its language is a language which the soul alone understands, but which the soul can never translate,” ~ Pete Bennett. We use many different instruments to express this language but there is one instrument in particular that plays in unison with the beating of my heart and that instrument is the piano. I share the love of this captivating instrument with my beloved family member, Alex Kaczynski whose passion for the piano is made quite apparent through each and every note he plays. Getting to hear Alex play was a phenomenal experience. It was through his performance and interview; I’ve gotten to know Alex on a deeper level, not only as a musician but as a person…a truly gifted one at that.
Alex grew with up in a small town located in Pennsylvania called Bloomsburg. Alex comes from a family who is musically gifted but was the only one who ever took it seriously. From an early age, Alex being the age of eight, he and his two brothers were pushed into playing piano by their mother. After 1-2 years of playing, Alex’s siblings no longer had the want to pursue the piano. Alex on the other hand had developed an intense thirst to master the beautiful sounds of this complex musical instrument.
Fast forwarding twenty four y...
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...d “I’ve learned to recover quickly from mistakes. I know music theory very well, so sometimes I can make a mistake make sense. Other times all you can do is move on and move to the next thing. The audience is always on your side, so it’s not a big deal to make some mistakes. It also depends on how you react to it, you just need to try and keep your composure. Sometimes when I make a mistake, it feels like an eternity trying to recovering while playing when playing for an audience even if the mistake only last for a second, but if you move on it sounds beautiful and nothing matters,” such beautiful and inspiring words from the mind of Alex Kuczynski.
Work Cited:
1. K, Alex. Interview by Victoria L. B. The Man with The Gifted Hands. Victoria L. Bell, 16 Apr 2014.
2. "QuoteGarden." unknown. 1998. http://www.quotegarden.com/site-info.html (accessed Apr 18, 2014).
1. Music is a strictly local expression, rich in variety since each culture expresses affective differences through art, 2. Music is a poetic process--complex, vague, and irrational--based upon borrowed traditional musical materials (melodies, rhythms, forms, etc.), 3. Music is for a religious, elitist-class performer who can understand and appreciate its mysterious nature and power, 4. Music is played softly in intimate gatherings, 5. Music making is the activity of Everyman, exacting the talents of variously trained amateurs who, with industry and practice, decorate their recreation and leisure in moments of social intercourse.
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