Reading Between the Lines

Dynamics are so underrated. I think too often piano teachers focus too much on notes and rhythm and hardly anything on dynamics and feeling. Fortunately, I had music teachers who were almost as concerned about how I played the notes as when and where I would play the notes.

Between the staves of classical or formal sheet music, there are a lot of markings and notations that are easy to overlook when you’re trying to learn to site read. However, that’s the stuff that brings the notes to life. It’s what matters and if you play a song without paying attention to the dynamics, you might as well have a machine play it. It’s boring and dead.

Whenever I play with a band, I always remind everyone to save something for the big part of the song. Don’t blow it all at the beginning because there won’t be any build or climax to the song. Quite frequently, a song is as much about what you’re not playing as what you are playing and I think it’s easy for novice musicians to overlook that fact.

There are dynamics in all of life. Even as you sit and read this, you aren’t being perfectly still. Your chest is rising and falling to it’s own pattern and established rhythm. The sooner we can learn to embrace those highs and lows, the better off we’ll be. It’s easy to ignore compliments or fight fear or hide anger but by doing those things, we don’t allow ourselves to live.

Smile big. Cry loudly. Feel your feelings all the way.

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