Today I remembered a book I'd read in a previous lifetime. It was a collection of contemporary essays by different writers on their pactise of zen in the West. The most memorable of these was by someone who wrote about being a music student, several years earlier.
She had entered a prestigious conservatoire as a well-regarded, technically gifted pianist and after a year or so of studying managed to obtain a prized practice session once a week for a short period with the most highly regarded professor at the school, who rarely worked with students on a one-to-one basis. From the start the atmosphere in the room was relaxed but sombre and with little conversation. After a protracted wait to find what she would be asked to play she was eventually instructed to produce a particular single note on the piano, which she did. After some time had passed she was asked to repeat the note once again. As you can probably guess this was all that her classes ever consisted of. (Presumably the tutor was profoundly influenced by Eugen Herrigel's 'Zen in the Art of Archery'.)
She described those afternoons as being the most difficult and yet the most important part of her music education, and ultimately a valuable life lesson, also.
She had entered a prestigious conservatoire as a well-regarded, technically gifted pianist and after a year or so of studying managed to obtain a prized practice session once a week for a short period with the most highly regarded professor at the school, who rarely worked with students on a one-to-one basis. From the start the atmosphere in the room was relaxed but sombre and with little conversation. After a protracted wait to find what she would be asked to play she was eventually instructed to produce a particular single note on the piano, which she did. After some time had passed she was asked to repeat the note once again. As you can probably guess this was all that her classes ever consisted of. (Presumably the tutor was profoundly influenced by Eugen Herrigel's 'Zen in the Art of Archery'.)
She described those afternoons as being the most difficult and yet the most important part of her music education, and ultimately a valuable life lesson, also.