Me and My "Prostitutes"

In fact I had not wanted to talk about my next opera, but since there is this open audition for the singers and the enthusiasm has been mounting, now it's like everybody talks about it. So I better write a bit on it, mostly to clarify what it IS and it is NOT about. From its title "Tumirah, Sang Mucikari" (Madame Tumirah, the Pimp), most people would assume that there are many sexually (pretty) explicit scenes in it. WRONG. Yeah, the female main roles are damn beautiful and nice to look at (apart from the fact that they sing like angels), but don't expect to see lots of their naked body parts! Yeah, the words "f*ck", "org*sm" and the likes are abundant, and as with Seno Gumira Ajidarma's other works, the language is pretty direct and less poetic. But this opera, in the end, is about love, and its difference from pure sex. And it is, like most of Seno Gumira's works, a social criticism, not only about the industry of sex, but about social justice. ............................................................................................................................................. The "judges" for the audition will be me and Chendra Panatan, my manager and also the choreographer & director of this opera. Please note: the voice remains the most important aspect for us, but also the gestures and appearance will have something to do with our decision to accept the singers. They don't have to dance, but they will be required to do some moving around and certain gestures in the opera. But remember, the crucial issue is still the quality of the voice. ............................................................................................................................................. In fact, there is another very important thing, but one cannot get it through auditions, and that is ATTITUDE. Remember: what is needed from artists is our PRODUCT. If you think people are more interested in your ego, your charisma, your selfies, you are dead wrong. If one acts like a diva but sucks in his/her product, whether it's the singing or whatever, one better not consider a career in classical music. But of course during the audition I cannot measure your attitude. So, just sing like an angel, and if you happen to be a divo/a, well, the rest of the musicians will have to eat that shit you give us. I am sorry for myself and the whole team to have to put up with Your Fabulousness. But remember, being a selfish diva and think that one is the center of the world is disgusting. OK, OK, we understand you are the best and the rest suck, but show it with your voice, with your ARTISTIC PRODUCT, not with your judgemental tweets or facebook status or condescending attitude. But hey, if you can sing well, do you still need to be an asshole? ............................................................................................................................................. Many amateur singers still think that an opera is like a musical : they sing 1 or 2 numbers, and that's it. The rest of the time they can use it for gossiping or criticizing other singers. WRONG. Each singer should be "on" almost during the whole opera, and one interacts with each other through recitatives and dialogues. So, one really got to know the music, the score. And the attitude affects other people in the production ; rehearsal time is limited, so each and every one has to be extremely prepared with his/her own parts. ............................................................................................................................................. For now we have the main roles, which are played by Artidewi (she has a unique voice which can sometimes sound "rocky", which will be exploited here) as the protagonist, "THE PIMP". Next are her prostitutes, Mariska Setiawan (soprano) and Evelyn Merrelita (coloratura soprano). They will be accompanied by a few female dancers, also acting as prostitutes. And then there is the tenor Widhawan Aryo Pradhita (who rocked Jakarta as "the police" in my previous opera, CLARA, and contributed to grab the award for Best Performing Arts 2014 by the TEMPO Magazine). We would need some male singers and still an extra "prostitute", but she will have to be an alto to complete the female voices. Anybody?

The Power of (Grandma's) Love

This is just a short entry, but a meaningful one, at least for me. Since I came back from my holiday in Madrid, I've started writing the actual notes for my new opera. It's not easy I must say, since I am still having doubts with the structure of the work ; it's a complex one, and I gotta change the order of some scenes from the original play. There are some instrumental interludes and long arias which would work for the original drama staging, but would be disproportional if one sets it to music. Anyway, I also had that problem in my 2nd Chamber Symphony recently finished : I was stuck, and then I realized that the flaw lay in the basic structure. I just changed the form during the ongoing process of composing, and it turned out ... err .. OK, I think (the premiere is still exactly 1 month from now, so I shouldn't say anything yet!). So, I concluded that I'd stop worrying, I just gotta start writing my opera, and if I get stuck later, I will just go back and see if the problem would be in the changing of scenes. ............................................................................................................................................. Anyway, I see that this opera is no small issue, so I was hoping that I could ask to postpone its World Premiere (due to be in February next year). To be honest, I was having trouble in beginning to write it. I felt clueless and scared in front of the blank, white music paper. Before I told my disquietude to the producer, I chatted with one of the sopranos for that opera about my anxiety. I shall quote her reaction, literally: ............................................................................................................................................. "Ooooh nooo ! My grandma [who lives in Germany] would visit Indonesia in February, and she was already so excited to know that it coincides with my operatic debut. If it were postponed, she would miss it, since she couldn't come in any other period to Indonesia. She'd be so disappointed!". The point is, she lives in Surabaya, so even though she would be in Indonesia in February, she still would have to fly to Jakarta to see her beloved (and very talented) granddaughter for the premiere. Yeah, that's how great the love of a grandma is. ............................................................................................................................................. Needless to say, this conversation immediately revoked my decision to talk to the producer, and my motivation to sit my ass and work got a big boost! Grandmas rock!

A Second Chamber Symphony, as if it were my First

It's a rule that I established for myself to be obeyed by me and only me: When I do something for the second time, don't repeat what I had done for the first time, even (or especially) if I had done it well. We tend to repeat things to establish a comfort zone, and in fact Life always begins with one step outside of your comfort zone. At least for me. And that's where the fun is. You call me stupid? Well, perhaps I am. Coz I still feel like a little kid, and I still have dreams of flying. If you want to fly you need to grow up, to grow up you need to be a kid again. To be a kid again you have to just be yourself; so come out of your cozy comfort zone, break the boundaries your are stuck in.. Only then you can fly. ............................................................................................................................................. I did it with each of my 5, going on 6, operas. I did it with my Rapsodia Nusantara that has reached 18 now (yeah yeah, some of them end with a fugue, and every 4 of them is a Theme and Variations, but I did them in different ways). And now I am doing it with my Chamber Symphony no.2, especially because the commissioner of this work is the same as for my First, which is Indonesia's 3rd President, Mr. B.J. Habibie through his Habibie - Ainun Foundation. I just don't want to give him a copy - paste of my First Chamber Symphony! ............................................................................................................................................. But let me contradict myself first. There are some similarities with my First. The most important is the instrumentation. Both are scored for a string quartet plus piano, percussion & harp, and 3 woodwinds : flute, oboe (doubl. english horn) and clarinet. But that's where the challenge lies: to explore other possibilities with the same instruments. While my First is more of a kinda Piano Concertante, this Second is more a Concerto for 10 instruments. There are important solos for many of the instruments. It is also more virtuosic (read: flashy). This time I am focusing more on the dreams of Mr. President : that Indonesia should acquire the glory we deserve, although in many things we are so much behind other countries. I immediately think of that famous phrase : Per Aspera Ad Astra (From the dust to the stars). When I designed the work's structure, I had it in mind, but then I apply this concept only for the First Movement. And for this, I use that simple motif, the most basic thing when we learn a musical instrument : the scale do-re-mi-fa-sol . And then the triad. Why am I doing this? It's because I am using the theme "Anging Mamiri" (a folk song from South of Sulawesi, the birthplace of Mr. Habibie) as one of its material, and the main melody Anging Mamiri starts with that perfect triad. Therefore I try to symbolize how a beginner starts playing the do-re-mi-fa-sol and do-mi-sol themes as the first step to later play exhilarating, sizzling variations on it. ............................................................................................................................................. Another similarity with my First, is that the central movement of the Second is a Love Song. But in the Second, I am putting a childlike character and even a playful section in it, and I do think that I focus more on the happy aspects of Love this time (which I almost never did in my hundreds of previous works!). This movement is full of duets between instruments; the whole group plays together only in the climax. My idea is that this section is full of couples in love. I want the listener to keep track and focus on which duet of instruments are playing every time. It is also an interesting sound world, combining two different instruments every time. And those duets play different roles : sometimes one instrument is accompanying the other, but other times they are both playing melodies. The beginning starts with the violin exposing its theme, answered by the cello, but other times two instruments are involved in a dialogue. I gave the title simply "A Love Song", but in fact it explores many different aspects of love. ............................................................................................................................................. This work will be, as in my First, in 3 clearly defined sections, or movements. It wouldn't be a work which many people would grasp in the first hearing, I think, in spite of its attractiveness in its flashy virtuosity. It has quite a complex structure, like the First also had, but in a different way. But hey, what would happen if you give yourself permission to do something you’ve never done before? There’s only one way to find out! ............................................................................................................................................. My Chamber Symphony no. 2 will be premiered on the birthdate of Mr. Habibie's late wife Ainun, on the 11th of August this year in his residence. The public performance of it will be on the next day, Wednesday the 12th of August at Goethe Haus, Jakarta. Jot it down in your agenda!

Continuing with Trisutji Kamal's music

My newest CD, "Islamic Inspirations" is a continuation of my first 2 CDs of piano music by Trisutji Kamal, one of the pioneers in Indonesian classical music. Those 2 CDs were released almost 10 years ago! I hope we can release the complete CDs of all her piano music before she turns 80 next year, in 5 CDs in total. This is certainly the most ambitious project in Indonesian literature music up to date : recording ALL the piano solo works by Indonesia's most prolific, most important and groundbreaking composer who will celebrate her 80th birthday. I use that string of superlatives for many reasons : ............................................................................................................................................. 1. If one should define what is Indonesian literature music, then Trisutji's music definitely fits the definition. Yes, there were and are other composers such as Mochtar Embut (who, if hadn't been cut short by his premature death, would have produced a huge quantity of high quality works as well), Amir Pasaribu or even me, but Trisutji's music spans more than 50 years of creative process in searching its identity, not only for its individual character, but also the "indonesianness" of it. ............................................................................................................................................. 2. Trisutji's works (especially for piano solo) have been established as part of the repertoire of Indonesia's pianists : students, teachers, performers. I don't know any Indonesian pianist of my generation who has not played or learned her works. ............................................................................................................................................. 3. Although living in Europe in the 50s and 60s, Trisutji allowed herself not to be dictated by the "avantgarde" dictatorship which , though powerful until as late as the 80s, proved never to be accepted by anyone oustide its small circle and therefore disappeared together with, or even before the death of its "composers" . Therefore her music remains truthful to her expressions without being afraid of being critized by her colleagues. ............................................................................................................................................. 4. As a composer born and brought up with a rich culture of her country, she could assimilate all that she naturally absorbed and integrate it to her highly original musical language, applying a "Western" compositional technique and musical structures. This is, in a way, paralel to the artistic achievements of Toru Takemitsu as a Japanese, Aaron Copland as an American or Peter Sculthorpe as an Australian, being pioneers of establishing the identity of (classical) music of their own country. ............................................................................................................................................. This collection is a result of many years of hardwork and collaboration between the composer and myself. Many of her work remain unpublished, and even the published ones have many errors in its printing. To make things worse, the composer is an incurable perfectionist who keeps on revising and changing notes, harmonies, phrases .... as the great Paul Valery admitted , "A poem is never finished, only abandoned". Therefore, recording her works forces her to "abandon" her masterpieces and present them in their final form . Every note, every nuance and even every silence of this recording has been discussed and carefully re-thought, although some of them have survived the test of time as they were written as early as in 1951 when the composer was only 15. ............................................................................................................................................. Composers like me and others of the next generation owe a lot from Trisutji ; we are just continuing what she has begun. We just enter the door which she has opened. We just affirm what she has convinced us, that Indonesia does have its own identity in literature and classical music.

How does Islam Musically Inspire? (Introduction to my new CD)

While preparing for the recording Trisutji Kamal's "Islamic Inspirations" piano pieces which will be released in 10 days (hey! That's someone's birthday! Hehe, yeah, but this date is picked due to the fact that the Ramadhan Holy Fasting Month is arriving on the 16th of June, so this CD is to celebrate THAT and also the Idul Fitri celebration that closes the Ramadhan month), that question popped up in my head, and we are so lucky that today we could just search the answer in the internet. We know that there are Psalms, Gregorian chants even Christmas Carols that were born inside the Churches, but we don't really know about the Islamic music so well. There are even some "religious" beliefs that music is prohibited in Islam. Questions as to the admissibility of music apparently are not unique to the Islamic tradition: one can also find heated religious debate concerning the role of music in Western history as well. In the Middle Ages, so-called Gregorian chant was formulated under strict rules of musical structure called "counterpoint" that had foundations in Catholic religious beliefs, restricting the use of certain musical intervals, like the tritone for example, for their supposed evocation of the devil. In ancient times, also, Plato had mapped out certain musical modes and scales in his Republic that were considered illegal for evoking certain undesirable and dangerous kinds of emotions. St. Augustine, furthermore, a Christian ascetic, had spent much focus trying to define the point at which music distracts the listener from reflection of God, at which point music thus becomes sinful. ............................................................................................................................................. So how about Islam? And how did Trisutji compose music that sounds "Islamic" ? ............................................................................................................................................. First, it is first important to distinguish that Muslims do not use the term "music" in the same manner employed in the English language and in other Western languages. The Arabic term for "music," musiqa, does not apply to all types of artistic vocal and instrumental arrangements of sounds or tones and rhythms; rather, the Muslims term this general case "handasah al sawt" or "the art of sound." Musiqa, or "music," applies rather "only to particular genres of sound art, and for the most part it has been designated for only those that have a "somewhat questionable or even disreputable status in Islamic culture" (al Faruqi, Isma'il R. and Lois Lamya al Faruqi (1986), The Cultural Atlas of Islam). "Handasah al sawt" is a recently coined term used by Muslims to separate their Islamic conception of "music" from that held in the Western and non-Islamic world, which, as we will see, often contrasts in very fundamental ways. ............................................................................................................................................. Muslims seem to create intricacy with extremely melismatic melodic lines and ornamental rhythmic figures, extensive use of trills and slides from one pitch to another, durational ornaments such as constant shifts of accent and tempo changes, and also in dividing the octave into more than twelve tones so as to include several microtones in between them. The extreme nature of this intricacy is used to steal focus from any single line of development and thus to strengthen the abstract and nondevelopmental form of the music. The lack of single themes and their elaboration and the lack of fixed meter "explains why foreign listeners unfamiliar with this music sometimes regard [Islamic music] as formless improvisation" (Touma, Habib Hassan (1996), The Music of the Arabs). Even Free Jazz has met with similar criticism. ............................................................................................................................................. Other techniques that Muslims use to realize abstraction and thus tajwid are extensive use of repetition and the creation of infinite patterns. From single notes, to motives, to whole sections of music, outstanding usage of repetition is characteristic to Islamic music. This repetition is used to evoke a sense of the eternal and thus the divine: "Extensive use of repetitions is not the result of a poverty of musical ideas... instead it is a structural feature necessary for the creation of infinite patterns. Repetition denies individualization, but also contributes to the never-ending quality that the aesthetic expression of tajwid should manifest" (al Faruqi). Examples of extensive use of repetition are also abundant in modern Western art music, especially in a movement known as "minimalism" that employs "minimal" use of musical materials in repetitive ways that change very little (note: limited dynamism, as in Islamic music) and try to thereby recapture the essence and meaning of musical materials in Western music: composer like Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich or Philip Glass to name a few. 20th-century French composer Olivier Messiaen, furthermore, was especially intrigued with the creation of "infinite patterns," as in his piece entitled The Crystal Liturgy, in which mechanisms of repetitions would take nearly two hours to get back to its starting state. Messiaen had a "concern with time beyond time—with the presence of the eternal in the transitory", which is derived from his strong Catholic beliefs and focus on God, much in the way the Islamic ideal of tajwid influences Islamic music. ............................................................................................................................................. But a composer writes his/her own music. (S)he doesn't write Islamic, or Catholic or Hindu music. All these religious elements are just influences from outside that would help to shape the music which has already a strong identity in itself. The Spanish composers David del Puerto wrote a "Nusantara Symphony", Jesus Rueda wrote a "Kecak" Piano Sonata but it sounds as their other works that have no Indonesian elements. Now that very few young people in Western Europe seriously study European Classical music these days, Asians thus adopt the highest cultural achievements of European civilization at a time when many people of European descent themselves appear to be on the verge of forgetting them. And Trisutji Kamal is one of the very few (few? To be honest I couldn't mention another name) composers in the world who derives her inspiration from Islamic elements. And as you can hear in the other CDs of Kamal's piano works that I have recorded, these "Islamic Inspirations" sound just like Trisutji Kamal's other works. The listener might not know the programmatic backgrounds behind the music, or even the title, but for me, it doesn't matter. The music speaks in its abstraction, mystery ... and powerful expressivity.

Preface to Alicia's Fifth Piano Book

While Alicia (who is now 16) doesn't play the piano anymore, I still do write music for the instrument once in a while in my spare time. It's been approximately 1 year after the publication of Alicia's 4th piano book, and it (and its predecessors) have been proven so popular and useful for young pianists, therefore I was constantly asked for a new collection of piano pieces. So I gathered all my files, not only in my computer but also those papers I wrote during my travels (mostly by plane when it's too fussy to open the laptop) and I found all these works that I could present to you all in this book. ............................................................................................................................................. I think about many people while composing, but when I wrote these pieces I mainly thought of the (very) young ones . In fact, we in Indonesia should be happy that classical music is being a hot stuff among young people. In Europe, we have this joke now: What do classical music concerts and cigarette companies have in common? Answer: It’s the age problem. How do you stay in business when your customers keep dying? ............................................................................................................................................. I also give more and more masterclasses now in many cities and countries , and I am enjoying it more and more meeting young musicians. Teaching has never been so fun like these days, with all those enthusiastic kids and teenagers (yeah, yeah, THEM, not their parents nor their teachers) in Indonesia. They might learn something from me, but I certainly learn a lot from them. Each student / participant came with their uniqueness which inspires me. I don't think it's true that only great artists can inspire ; I do find inspiration from everyone I met including, or especially, from their imperfections. In fact, the beauty of art lies in human imperfections of its artists. If only the Indonesian government would give subsidy for classical music, in 5-6 years the world will be filled not only with prominent Chinese pianists but Indonesians as well. They need promotion and adequate management to take part in this tough Western classical music circle. ............................................................................................................................................. Apart from works for piano solo, there is one work for piano duet (4-hands) in this book. This is an addition to the collection "Pieces of Cakes" that appeared already in the previous Alicia's Piano Books. If you would like to perform them all, you can do it in the order you like since I am hoping that the number of pieces would still grow, but for now my personal suggestion would be : 1. Chocolate Mousse. 2. March of the Gingerbread Boy. 3. Apfelstruedel. 4. Strawberry Cheesecake. ............................................................................................................................................. The composer is deeply thankful to the team of piano teachers at the KITA Anak Negeri (Depok, West Java) for supervising and giving the grades to each piece in this book. ............................................................................................................................................. Ananda Sukarlan April 2015

Pendidikan Musik, Apa Perlunya? (Article at Jawa Pos, 12-4-2015)

This article of mine was published on Sunday, April 12th at Jawa Pos. Please use Google Translate to read it in English. .............................................................................................................................................. Ya, ya, harus kita akui bahwa pendidikan musik (klasik) untuk anak di bawah 7 tahun saat ini memang cukup populer di keluarga kalangan menengah keatas.. Tapi, apakah benar bahwa pendidikan musik, apalagi musik klasik itu hanya berfungsi sebagai "hiburan", menyibukkan anak supaya mencegahnya mengerjakan hal-hal lain yang tidak positif atau malah hanya untuk status simbol sang orangtua? Di sini penulis ingin mencoba menganalisa keadaan ini setelah beberapa tahun terakhir aktif mengunjungi beberapa kota di pulau Jawa dan Sumatra untuk memberi masterclasses kepada para pianis muda yang kalau dihitung jumlahnya kini ratusan, dan karena penulis adalah pemusik dari aliran "klasik", maka tiap kali kata "musik" disebut di artikel ini, biasanya penulis bermaksud musik klasik. .............................................................................................................................................. Menurut banyak hasil riset, musik terbukti sangat berguna untuk banyak hal, baik untuk kecerdasan maupun perkembangan jiwa. Meskipun kegiatan mendengarkan musik sudah umum di semua masyarakat negara berkembang dan maju, faktor penentu kebutuhan biologis mendengarkan musik masih belum diketahui. Menurut sebuah studi baru, mendengarkan musik klasik meningkatkan aktivitas gen yang menghasilkan sekresi dopamin serta memperkuat daya pembelajaran dan memori. Mendengarkan musik merupakan fungsi kognitif yang kompleks dari otak manusia, yang diketahui dapat menginduksi beberapa perubahan neuronal dan fisiologis, namun latar belakang molekuler yang mendasari efek mendengarkan musik sebagian besar masih belum diketahui. Sebuah kelompok studi di Finlandia telah menyelidiki bagaimana mendengarkan musik klasik mempengaruhi profil ekspresi gen dari pendengar yang fokus (bukan mendengarkan musik hanya sebagai latarbelakang / sambilan) baik yang memang penikmat musik klasik maupun yang belum pernah mendengarnya. .............................................................................................................................................. Dari mendengarkan musik itulah berkembang keinginan anak untuk mencoba memainkan alat musik, yang efeknya jauh lebih daripada hanya sekedar mendengarkan, karena bermain instrumen melibatkan kegiatan fisik. Sayangnya, masih banyak yang percaya bahwa keberhasilan anak-anak dalam kehidupan hanya tergantung pada keterampilan kognitif serta kecerdasan yang diukur pada tes IQ dan segala hal yang bersifat logis. Juga dipercaya bahwa sekolah harus terutama difokuskan pada pengisian otak anak-anak dengan sebanyak mungkin pengetahuan faktual, bukan pada pertumbuhan kreativitas, imajinasi, ketrampilan psikologis dan pola pikir. Ketrampilan psikologis itu mencakup antara lain: rasa ingin tahu dan keuletan untuk memecahkan masalah, kesabaran untuk bertahan pada tugas berat (dan mungkin membosankan), kemampuan untuk menunda kepuasan dll. .............................................................................................................................................. Memegang alat musik di tangan anak anda bisa menjadi kunci untuk mengembangkan ketrampilan psikologis tersebut. Jangan salah paham. Anak-anak kita tidak perlu belajar instrumen dengan harapan bahwa mereka akan menjadi seorang musisi profesional. Sama saja, mereka tidak mempelajari buku matematika dengan harapan mereka menjadi ahli matematika, bukan? Pendidikan ketrampilan koordinasi indera dan otak ini yang lebih berguna untuk perkembangan mereka. Ingat, pendidikan musik yang lengkap HARUS melibatkan membaca partitur, menterjemahkannya menjadi suara yang diproduksi oleh alat musik dan memadukan not-not itu menjadi melodi dan harmoni yang indah, sehingga ada 3 indera yang terlibat : penglihat, pendengar dan perasa (seberapa besar tekanan di tuts piano, atau senar biola / gitar, atau tiupan di flute harus dikontrol oleh sensitivitas). Setelah mereka fasih membaca partitur serta menguasai teknik permainan instrumen yang paling dasar dengan baik, baru kemudian mereka dapat mengembangkan kreativitas dalam berimprovisasi dll. Nah, penulis telah mengamati bahwa ada dua hal pokok yang harus benar-benar dipahami oleh sang anak yang baru mulai belajar memainkan instrumen : .............................................................................................................................................. 1. Kerja keras selalu mengalahkan bakat. Berlatih berulang kali untuk mengasah ketrampilan dengan cara yang benar mengaktifkan sirkuit di otak kita yang memperkuat keterampilan itu. Tentu saja untuk beberapa gelintir orang ada keterampilan tertentu yang lebih mudah pada awalnya daripada yang lain, tetapi orang-orang yang berlatih keterampilan yang setiap hari untuk "merekamnya" ke dalam otak mereka selalu akan jauh melampaui orang-orang yang tidak berlatih cukup. Bakat memang membantu, dan penulis tidak bisa menyangkal bahwa anak yang berbakat membutuhkan lebih sedikit waktu dan tenaga untuk menguasai satu ketrampilan, tapi bakat itu kadang-kadang malah berbahaya untuk menjadi alasan untuk menjadi malas. Berlatih alat musik membantu anak-anak belajar kebenaran universal ini : kerja keras mengalahkan bakat. .............................................................................................................................................. 2. Kegagalan/kesalahan itu adalah satu hal yang sangat lazim dan sangat diperbolehkan. Kita justru akan menjadi lebih baik karena pernah mengalami kegagalan. Tidak ada nilai merah, tidak ada yang buruk ketika kita bermain sesuatu yang "salah" dalam musik semasa periode pendidikan. Untuk menjadi terampil memainkan alat musik - dan menjadi terampil pada apa pun - kita butuh perjuangan. Dalam kasus anak / pemula, mereka perlu bermain buruk sebelum mereka terdengar lebih baik sehingga mereka dapat membedakannya; mereka perlu bekerja pada hal-hal di luar apa yang mereka mampu untuk mendapatkan yang lebih baik, dan itu berarti mereka harus diperbolehkan membuat kesalahan. Perbedaannya sangat jelas antara apa yang kita semua mampu lakukan dan apa yang kita ingin bisa lakukan, dan fokus pada perbedaan tersebutlah yang membuat kita hari ini menjadi lebih baik dari kita sebelumnya. Belajar alat musik memungkinkan kita untuk belajar dan tumbuh justru dari kesalahan kita. .............................................................................................................................................. Hal-hal diataslah yang penulis amati di ratusan pianis muda yang pernah mengikuti kompetisi piano Ananda Sukarlan Award selama bertahun-tahun ini. Banyak sekali pianis muda yang akhirnya "gugur" hanya karena "kalah" di kompetisi. "Kekalahan" diinterpretasi sebagai "kegagalan" dan kemudian dilanjutkan dengan "ah, mungkin memang (anak) saya sebaiknya tidak melanjutkan main piano". Padahal, sebuah kompetisi yang berkategori "junior" (bukan seperti Ananda Sukarlan Award International yang diadakan di Jakarta, yang memang untuk para profesional dan dapat menentukan langkah awal karir mereka) memfokuskan justru ke apa yang penulis sampaikan tadi : kompetitor terbesar seorang peserta bukannya sesama pianis, melainkan diri peserta itu sendiri, karena ia dituntut untuk bermain lebih baik daripada apa yang ia kira ia bisa lakukan. Mengikuti kompetisi membuat pianis muda berlatih untuk mengatasi tekanan di panggung, atau "stage fright" yang biasa kita sebut "demam panggung". Demam panggung ini yang sering membuat penampilan kita lebih rendah dari ekspektasi sebelumnya. Tapi, itulah gunanya musik : untuk berkomunikasi dengan publik serta untuk menyampaikan ekspresi yang terlalu dalam untuk bisa disampaikan dengan kata-kata. Dan dalam musiklah kebebasan berekspresi itu bisa dimanifestasikan secara total. Itu adalah sebuah kemewahan yang hanya ada di bidang seni, dan jika kita berhasil menaklukan diri kita sendiri, itu akan menghasilkan sebuah kepuasan tersendiri yang unik, karena berekspresi lewat musik membutuhkan kejujuran, tanpa perlu "jaim". Penulis selalu bilang, "Jika anda ingin mengerti saya, dengarlah omongan saya, tapi jika anda ingin mengenal saya, dengarlah musik saya". .............................................................................................................................................. Penulis adalah pianis & komponis Indonesia yang tinggal di Spanyol. Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award akan diadakan di Makassar, 21-23 Agustus tahun ini. Ia bisa dihubungi di twitter @anandasukarlan

Classical music and loneliness. Oh yes, in Asia.

Between July and August I will be working with hundreds -- literally hundreds -- of young musicians in 3 cities in Indonesia : Jakarta, Makassar and Jogjakarta. It would be quite normal if it were in Europe, but in Indonesia? Oh I forgot to tell you, I am talking about CLASSICAL music. What's happening in Asian countries? Why is classical music suddenly a hot property among young people? Oh, you still don't know this situation? Well, the superstar violinist Sarah Chang said a few years ago in an interview : “Music is a huge part of life for most Asian families. Most Asian children I know start taking violin, piano, or cello lessons from an early age.” And another superstar violinist, the irresistably handsome Joshua Bell said “There was a time when practically every major soloist was Jewish. Every Jewish kid grew up wanting to play the violin. Now it’s true among Asians.” In fact, as I am writing these lines, an email notification arrived saying that the new concertmaster of the New York Phil is the Chinese born Frank Huang. See, most of the young superstars now are Asians. But one thing I noticed. Asian performers gravitate almost exclusively to strings (excluding viola!), voice and piano: Those instruments which, within a genre that symbolizes class mobility in Asia, are at the top of the heap. Rarely does one encounter an Asian conservatory student playing the clarinet or french horn, or any instrument that does not afford the possibility of soloist superstardom. .............................................................................................................................................. In Europe, we have this joke now: What do symphony orchestras (or classical music biz in general) and cigarette companies have in common? Answer: It’s the age problem. How do you stay in business when your customers keep dying? .............................................................................................................................................. Well, to start with, Asia is one place where classical artists can be genuine pop stars in ways long forgotten in Europe. Long gone is the period of Liszt being the subject for sexual fantasies of all women in Europe. And why this shift to Asia? My theory is .... is ....that in general, Asians are more hardworking (or at least willing to) in achieving our goals in classical music. Perhaps because classical music is by nature not in our blood, so we gotta work harder in "understanding" it. And classical music is not easy to master, as you know. But mostly, I think, is that Asian are more sociable people than the "Westerns". And the word "social" nowadays is automatically translated to "social media". We know that Jakarta is the no. 1 city for twitter, and Indonesia is the number ... what, 4 or 5? in the world of Facebook users. And social media is an embodiment of, among others, classical music. .............................................................................................................................................. Social media—from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram you name it —have made us more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, we have never been lonelier (and ... ehm ... more narcissistic), and that this loneliness is making us mentally sick. And we need a cure for that. Within this world of instant and absolute communication we suffer from unprecedented alienation. We have never been more detached from one another, or lonelier. In a world consumed by ever more sophisticated modes of socializing, we have less and less actual society. We live in an accelerating contradiction: the more connected we become, the lonelier we are. And that's when classical music clicks with this loneliness. Classical music is, in my theory, a product of loneliness. Just look at history : Gustav Mahler needed to go to his hiding place in the forest to write his symphonies, Franz Schubert was a total nerd that he gotta turn to (male?) prostitutes for his sexual needs, Maurice Ravel died a virgin (or at least that's what he confessed). And who could be lonelier by the poor, deaf Beethoven? But not only that. When we are lonely, we listen to Chopin piano works and other brooding classical pieces. Barber's Violin Concerto, Tschaikovsky that bloody tearjerker, you name them. Now, which is first, lonely people listens to classical music, or classical music gives the brooding, lonely feelings? It makes us smarter, more sensitive, yeah, but it also touches parts of our brains and hearts that normally couldn't be touched. And those parts are where we see ourselves, and therefore we know more, we FEEL more. People who play in bands aren't lonely. They have fun, they write (write? No, pop music is usually not written) music together, they hang out together. Do you know how many chamber music groups where 2 or more members have irreconcilable differences? When that happens in a pop group, the group fall apart. Not in classical music. Members of a string quartet can disagree with each other, yet the quartet goes on around the world. The existence of the music score makes it easier, but also makes less communication between the members of the classical group. The communication is on a higher level, which is musical. And music communicates the truth. And the truth sometimes hurts. And therefore, we become lonely. .............................................................................................................................................. And yet, it is also social media who helps the popularizing of classical music. Now that the "traditional media" don't give enough attention to classical music, it is the social media that do the job. And we, Asians, could get around better with social media. And since we are not bound by traditions, we can present classical music concerts in more innovative ways without feeling "guilty" of being a traitor of tradition. Yeah, classical music is cool! We rock, guys! ............................................................................................... --------------------------------------- My activities in Indonesia in July & August are: .............................................................................................................................................. 1. "Inspired by the Maestro". A series of seminar & Masterclasses in Jakarta in weekends throughout the whole month, finalized by a concert of the participants. Organized by ID Camp (instagram @id_camp ), you can tweet @id_camp for more info. .............................................................................................................................................. 2. Musical Experience with Ananda Sukarlan : in the beautiful city of Jogja, July 29-31. It is not limited to pianists, all instrumentalists are welcome. Contact Nirai Nathalia Kristiana (find her in Facebook) for more info. .............................................................................................................................................. 3. Ananda Sukarlan Junior Award : in Makassar (Sulawesi), August 21-23. It is the Junior category of the now highly popular piano competition, and the aim is preparing the participants to join the bigger, much more difficult piano competitions for professionals in the future, such as the Ananda Sukarlan Award International Piano Competition, held every 2 years (next one will be next year, 2016 in Jakarta). Tweet @eveline_philips or @ASApianocomp for more info.