Recently I’ve been playing a bit of Debussy. A selection of preludes, pieces I’ve seen in some grading books and of course Clair de Lune. I had never really explored his works but have always loved them.
As I’ve been learning them I have been spending some time listening to to different recordings and I stumbled across an album called Nightfall by Alice Sara Ott. It turns out this album is just full of repertoire that I love. Some I’ve played and others I will play in the future.
Anyway, my point is, having a listen to people play on the internet, in Spotify or whatever way you consume your music is really good for you. It’s interesting to listen to other people recording their music and putting their interpretations out in to the world because it gives me ideas on techniques I can experiment with.
I always remember reading an article years ago on how people learn to draw and develop their own style. Often artists will start by just copying other artists because they love their idols work so much. As they copy the work the new artist will start to make slight changes and over time develop their own style.
Music is no different. It’s ok to stand on the shoulders of giants. Take different ideas from different players, experiment with them and develop your own play style. As you build that library of techniques, emotions and soundscapes you’ll become a stand out player of your own.
One word of caution. Don’t be put off by recordings. Often players will think they could never be as good as what the hearing. Remember two things. The first is, these people have been playing and developing their style for a long time. They didn’t just open the book having never seen the repertoire in the past and record it straight away.
The 2nd is, you’re not trying to be better or as good as them. You’re just listening to try and build a catalogue of ideas your can learn to use and apply to pieces you learn later in life.
