Once,
a long time ago and far away a new 1st trombone player joined
an orchestra; he was by far the best brass player in the orchestra,
the other players in the orchestra were what we call now “old school”, and it clearly
stayed “old school” for many years after the new 1st trombonist arrived;
the horns were primitive, the trumpets were symphonicly ignorant and the other
trombones and tuba were pretty much the same. They did the thing all untrained
brass players do; they played late. The new trombone player was the only one
who made an effort to be on time. Of course, in comparison with the other brass
he was always early. As time passed and more experienced players began to join
the orchestra slowly the brass section started to play on time, all except the
1st trombone player (who wasn’t new anymore); he had been ahead of
the section for so many years that when things finally got corrected it didn’t
seem right to him, his perception of what was correct was simply to be ahead of the
rest of the section. Therefore he continued to play ahead all the way to the
day he retired.
During
these years of adjustment a new and younger 1st trombonist came into
the orchestra, he was intelligent, a wonderful musician, and a student of the
older 1st trombonist. He immediately realized that his teacher was
always early and found himself becoming very frustrated. Sharing that common
quality that all great brass players seem to have; stubbornness, the new trombonist soon developed the habit of always
being behind his teacher, because he knew if he was with him, he would be early. 25 years
after the older trombonist passed away, his replacement was still playing late
and thinking he was right, he had been playing late to his teacher for so many
years that not being behind felt
wrong. Finally, when the new trombonist reached retirement the problem seemed
to resolve… It took 50 years to correct the time perception problem in the
section!
And
in another place long ago and far away there was a remarkable young trombonist
and composer. In the early 70s he was so far ahead of the rest of us
that he captured our imaginations, our vision and pointed out to us a new
direction. He knew that he was in new territory and that he was opening minds;
he liked his role in the avant guard as
the enfant terrible, he liked blowing
minds and creating new sounds. Today he is a brilliant, perhaps genius composer
and he is charismatic but his avant guard
school has become an old-fashioned school, and he’s still fighting the same
old fight. Now frustrated because he is losing the fight, he finds that most
people think his music is ugly and vulgar. While he was stuck being the
outrageous enfant terrible, the rest
of the world has passed him by and left him behind, yet his perception of
himself in the musical world has not changed with the times.
Here’s
the artistic danger sequence: Motivation, perception, growth, dogma, then
stagnation. It didn’t happen to Stravinsky, he grew until he died. It hasn’t
happened to Boulez and it never happened to Rostroprovitch. I’m afraid of it,
if it happens to me I’ll know it’s time to stop.
When
the pensioners sit on a bench and stare at the sea, what do they think about?
November
15, 2004, on the Shinkansen (Bullet train) from Tokyo to
Hiroshima
Revised November 25, 2012, Tokyo
