Strengths (a note from Chopin)

This is Lesson #6 in the pages that most spoke to me in What Matters Now.  While there is a lot of truth to this little adage, I don’t know that I would completely discount the importance of working on our weaknesses.  Especially for a young composer, it’s helpful to identify weaknesses and strive to improve them since one does not always know their strengths.  Young composers need to “outfit their arsenol” of techniques.  But, I do understand the point being made here since doing what you are good at will certainly produce more in the area of your strength.  Before sharing this little tidbit from the What Matter Now series, I’d like to share some thoughts from someone who has a bit more clout in the musical world.  

In my reading of Aaron Copland’s Music and Imagination, part of the Charles Eliot Norton lecture series from Harvard, I found an interesting passage about Frederick Chopin.  It seems Chopin’s friends tried over and over again to get him to broaden his portfolio by writing for other instruments and groupings.  From a letter to one of his friends, we can hear his thoughts on the matter:

I know my limitations, and I know I would make a fool of myself if I tried to climb too high without having the ability to do it.  They plague me to death, urging me to write symphonies and operas, and they want me to be everything in one, a Polish Rossinni and a Mozart and a Beethoven.  But, I just laugh under my breath and think to myself that one must start from small things.  Im only a pianist, and if I’m worth anything this is good too…I think it’s better to do only a little but to do that as well as possible, rather than try to do all things and do them poorly. 

Should you need a bit more encouragement in this area, here is the little adage from the What Matter Now series that made me think of that great Chopin quote.

Lesson #1 Passion (page 51)
Lesson #2 Knowing (page 78)
Lesson #3 Change (page 50)
Lesson #4 Connected  (Page 12)
Lesson #5 Productivity (Page 68)
Lesson #6 Strengths (Page 22)