Day 32 - Bring Out The Violins

I asked Nancy before class, as nice nice nicely as I could, if she would mind having no music during Savasana (final meditation).  "Sure!  No problem."  Nancy is a fine master teacher and I was relieved that she accommodated my request.

Toward the end of class she put on Spiegel im Spiegel by Arvo Part.

A few words about this extraordinary piece of music. 

First - go listen to it on the internet.  It's awesome!  I would link here for you, but that's probably a copyright violation.  Second - don't listen to the recording Nancy played in our class.

It was too slow.  I like slow.  Really I do.  When I studied Kabuki Dance I was was the slowest student in the class.  The lowest setting on my metronome is 40, and that was how SLOOOOOOOW the quarter note was played on Nancy's recording. 

It was too soft.  I like soft.  Really I do.  You should see how small my conducting is when I want a soft sound from the choir.  A small twitch of the wrist instead of a beat.  But this piece is not only about the violin.   Arvo wrote delicious bass growls in the piano part and sprinkled in dissonances.  It's also the first piano piece I've played that uses the instrument's very top note. 

The real problem, though was the violinist's vibrato.  Spiegel im Spiegel is minimalist music.  It's a zen garden.  some moss.  a stone.  a little pond.  It's not rhododendrons and magnolias and tulips and ivy and bird baths and garden gnomes.  This music is restrained.  simple.  subtle. 

My violin partner, Peter, understands, as does Joshua Bell, that sometimes less vibrato means better music.  In case you're not sure what vibrato is, it's that Ya-ee-Ya-ee-Ya-ee-Ya-ee wavering that some instruments and voices make.  Think wobbling opera singer.  Think bold floral wallpaper.  Think fancy cocktail with umbrella and celery and plastic sworded fruit.  I prefer my pitches straight up, thank you.

So I'm lying on my back in Savasana, trying not to think unkind thoughts about the teacher who must have thought this would-be zen garden substituted for silence.  I'm frustrated at myself for being so opinionated and inflexible.  Isn't yoga all about flexibility?  Stretching to new places?  Opening up?  And deep deep gratitude when Nancy, per my earlier request, turned off the music.