Internet, I don't really know if that's true. You see, I have a problem. I can't remember what music I've played before. Everything sounds vaguely familiar to me, and then I find out that I played the very same music - even the same violin part - oh, four years before. (Or sometimes it's been as little as six months.)
See, I played a series of concerts over the weekend. This is one of the paying gigs that affords me to live my "lavish" lifestyle. (ha! Actually I think part of what I just earned helped me pay for turbotax software, and some more of it went to actually paying my taxes, leaving me with a whopping $80 for "lavish.") (And being the only first violin playing a concert isn't exactly my idea of "lavish" lifestyle. It's hard work. Stringed instrumentalists travel in packs. We succumb to peer pressure constantly. We don't play things by ourselves, and we definitely need help. How many violinists does it take to count rests? As many as we can get, 'cause it's really easy to lose your place and realize you've stared off into space and have no idea which measure you were on, and now you have to listen and hope you come in at the right spot, and of course the conductor doesn't cue you and now you just pray and hope for the best...)
Anyway. I digress.
So we played the Brahms Requiem (you know, the German one). The playing of it seemed vaguely familiar to me, and I kept thinking it was because I've heard it so many times. Well, Internet, I have heard it so many times. Because I played two concerts of it not even four years ago. That explains why the notes came so easily to me. (Trust me. It's not like it's because of my sight-reading skill or something.)
So I'm inclined to believe that maybe classical music doesn't actually make you smarter. Playing it definitely doesn't seem to make me smarter, at least. Or maybe it does...maybe I'd remember even less! if I didn't play classical music.
See, I played a series of concerts over the weekend. This is one of the paying gigs that affords me to live my "lavish" lifestyle. (ha! Actually I think part of what I just earned helped me pay for turbotax software, and some more of it went to actually paying my taxes, leaving me with a whopping $80 for "lavish.") (And being the only first violin playing a concert isn't exactly my idea of "lavish" lifestyle. It's hard work. Stringed instrumentalists travel in packs. We succumb to peer pressure constantly. We don't play things by ourselves, and we definitely need help. How many violinists does it take to count rests? As many as we can get, 'cause it's really easy to lose your place and realize you've stared off into space and have no idea which measure you were on, and now you have to listen and hope you come in at the right spot, and of course the conductor doesn't cue you and now you just pray and hope for the best...)
Anyway. I digress.
So we played the Brahms Requiem (you know, the German one). The playing of it seemed vaguely familiar to me, and I kept thinking it was because I've heard it so many times. Well, Internet, I have heard it so many times. Because I played two concerts of it not even four years ago. That explains why the notes came so easily to me. (Trust me. It's not like it's because of my sight-reading skill or something.)
So I'm inclined to believe that maybe classical music doesn't actually make you smarter. Playing it definitely doesn't seem to make me smarter, at least. Or maybe it does...maybe I'd remember even less! if I didn't play classical music.
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