There’s a move piano players do.
They’re lightly playing a song, singing along, maybe noodling something in the higher register…
And then as they smash into the mid and low-mid part of the piano they kinda lean back and to one side a bit. Like they’re pushing the piano with their hands and the piano is pushing back in beautiful tension and release.
I love that move.
I don’t have that move but I love when I see real players do it.
There’s a smooth professionalism that comes through. It’s so subtle. Yeah, I can play those chords too, but I can’t DO that.
On the same note…
I watched a documentary this past weekend having to do with an old Italian woman making handmade pasta.
For those of us who believe Kraft Macaroni & Cheese is pasta…
To make handmade pasta, as the dough gets rolled really thin with a wooden rolling pin, flour gets sprinkled periodically on the table, the dough and rolling pin so the dough doesn’t stick to anything.
All this motion is happening at the same time and the dough gets paper thin but never breaks.
It’s amazing.
Watching her do this work, watching her hands…she wasn’t doing anything special, except that it was absolutely unbelievable. It probably took thirty or forty years to be that smooth and effortless. Truly a thing of beauty.
A day to learn a lifetime to master. It’s the little things.
***And…
The piano player isn’t any good at landscaping.
The pasta maker isn’t any good at fixing cars.
Thank goodness.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com