What to Listen for in the World

I began reading What to Listen for in the World by Bruce Adolphe thinking he was just another author. But very early he beings talking about when he went to school with Yo-Yo Ma and speaking in depth about a piece with Itzhak Perlman. Now I’m like “who is this guy?” I have never before heard of him, but I love his writings about music. Because I hadn't heard of him, I looked him up and I very much like the fact that he shares my birthday. The way he speaks about and explains inspiration and how he describes pieces of music as tomatoes or chocolate cake I absolutely adore. I think as a musician it is necessary to have a visual to go with every piece of music you play. After I finished playing a piece, my cello teacher would often ask me what I saw. Sometimes it is almost given to you, such as in a piece I played called Papillion. In Italian it means butterfly and it certainly sounds like a butterfly to me, with fast paced sixteenth notes flying all over the place throughout the piece. I am very curious about the piece of music Perlman called “chocolate cake.” I think this work of writing does a very good job of demonstrating that every person has their inspiration come from a different place, and creativity and imagination are in everybody in very different ways.

Yo-Yo Ma
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sFEuEuTYM&feature=related

Itzhak Perlman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16XQTpm_OIk