Beyond the Fingers…the Personality!

This is a difficult topic to talk about because I think we all somehow know the importance of personality in music-making beyond the fast-moving fingers or technical excellence. However, there is no basis or system for anybody to follow on how to incorporate personality in music-making. 

Undoubtedly, technical excellence is essential in music-making; it allows you to achieve the level of playing you want. Evenness in tone, finger legato, clarity in thirds, sixths, octaves or semiquavers, etc. - these all come from Beyer, Hanon, Czerny, Chopin etudes…you name it. 

However, personality is another ingredient that is essential in music-making. This is something that some are born with, either from their personality or the way they connect themselves to the music at an early stage in their musical learning journey. But some may need time to find and develop their personality. Personality is important because it allows the performer to make artistic choices and build audience connection. Frankly speaking, personality completes the whole package. When we watch 2 performers perform the same piece, they may have equal technical ability but what makes one stand out is their personality - the way he or she performs the piece and how the story is conveyed to us. 

It is true that when young students first start performing, some may be shy with the pairs of eyes staring at them and hence get nervous and experience stage fright. However, this personality should be exhibited during their daily practice or weekly lessons. Remember, the performer is connecting with the music during that short moment of time - something personal and intimate - this shouldn’t be delineated in specific occasions. 

I frequently remind my students - what story are you trying to tell here? And how are you going to deliver this story to the audience? A lot of times, we get pulled into the nitty gritty details: the accuracy of notes, big intervallic jumps, tempo, etc but forget that there is a whole story behind why the composer composed this piece in the first place. 

We are not just performers who just speak with our fingers - we are also storytellers who speak with our body language, eye contact and the whole of our body. A performer is not performing for him or herself; the performer is transforming the audience to his or her world during that short period of time. What do you want the audience to hear, sense and experience? This is truly something any young learner or performer needs to discover for themselves. 

Always stay true to the music.