
“Blues Sax,” watercolor, 14″x11″. This painting is for sale. Prints also available. Contact me below for details.
Whether it is true or not I can’t say, but I’m told someone asked Mozart once what his favorite part of music was.
“The rests,” he replied.
While his answer may seem flip, I believe he was deadly serious. Imagine music with no spaces between the notes. It wouldn’t be music at all, would it? Just a noisy cacophany.
Beethoven was also clearly aware of the power of the rest to amplify and strengthen his musical message. The first minute of his Great Fugue is a masterful example. (Is it just my imagination, or can you hear in the silence the seed of all great music?):
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s0Mp7LFI-k]
So often we try to pack so much in that our lives become a jarring jumble, like music minus the rests. It’s good to remember that everything won’t come crashing to a halt just because we paused to breathe.
In fact, allowing ourselves time to rest often has quite the opposite effect!
Sent from my iPhone
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Sent from my iPhone
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