Alex has been taking piano lessons for about 2 months now and is doing quite well. We had an interesting experience at his lesson the other night. He was playing a piece that he had been working on for the last week and was playing it O.K. when his teacher asked him to move over so he could show Alex how to play it.
His teacher proceeded to play the piece with a style that represented his interpretation of the song. He played the legato parts slightly slower and added more force to the staccato notes. After his teacher finished, Alex criticized his performance (as he has done before) saying that he didn't play it right. At this point his teacher played the piece again but played it like a robot. He played every note exactly as marked. He asked him which way he liked it better. Alex replied, "The second way because it's right"
So he tried another experiment with Alex. He flipped to the back of the book to a piece that Alex has not heard or played and asked him to close his eye. His teacher played the piece as written. Then he said to listen and he was going to play it again. This time he flipped all the legato runs and staccato notes essentially playing it incorrect. Then he asked Alex which he liked better. He said, "I don't know". Why Alex? "Because I don't know which one is right."
The teacher and I agreed that we will continue to let Alex move forward just learning the technical aspects of playing piano as he has not shown any understanding of feel or interpretation of the music.
I was once in a band with a bass player that could not "feel" the music. I was astounded when I found this out. Perhaps he had Autism as well?
I wonder what percentage of people can "feel" or be moved to emotion simply by listening to music?
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