Adventures in Italy: Learning How to Listen

The past few days at the Accademia have been exhausting! The pianists and singers (9 of us altogether) have been working on Brahms' Neue Liebeslieder, and had the opportunity to work on it with an Italian music professor. Prof. Marzola was an organist in college, as well as a vocalist, accompanist, and conductor. He teaches at the Music Conservatory in Milan, and is also part of several Baroque music ensembles. Needless to say, I was a tad bit intimidated by him!

He spent hours rehearsing with us, pouring over the music measure by measure. I thought that I had been pretty meticulous learning the piece. So much for that! Prof. Marzola put our ensemble through the musical gauntlet! He had an idea of how every note should sound and wanted to make sure that we did as well. He stopped us after almost every measure because we weren't playing expressively enough, or because we weren't being completely true to the score. The frustration during the rehearsals was palpable, but it was exactly what our ensemble needed. Listening for subtle musical expressions and mood changes was difficult at first, but after a couple of days, I started to notice a substantive change in the ensemble. Not only did we sound more cohesive, but we were finally making music. The master classes and rehearsals truly transformed the way that I thought about the piece, and myself as a musician.

If there is one thing that I've learned in Italy, it is how to listen. Anyone who knows me at least halfway decently will know that I love to talk. I have always wanted to be a better listener, and being in Italy is giving me more lessons than I expected. There is nothing that will make you stop and listen more than not being able to communicate with 80 % of the people that you meet!

Before I came on this trip, one of my Furman professors told me that this experience would change my life. At the time, I thought that was a bit of an overstatement, if not false altogether. Now I'm wondering if the idea is not so far fetched after all. Being thrown into a completely new environment teaches you a lot about yourself (I have to remind myself this every time I feel frustrated by a new experience). Yes, we are on this trip to travel, but first and foremost, we are students. This semester feels the least like “school,” yet I feel the most like a “student.” How's that for ironic?

The pictures have nothing to do with the post, but I thought it might be fun to include some more pictures of Arezzo.