10 Lessons from Einstein

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1. Follow Your Curiosity “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.”

2. Perseverance is Priceless “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

3. Focus on the Present “Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.”

4. Imagination is Powerful “Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions. Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

5. Make Mistakes “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

6. Live in the Moment “I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.”

7. Create Value “Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.”

8. Don’t be repetitive “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

9. Knowledge Comes From Experience “Information is not knowledge. The only source of knowledge is experience.”

10. Learn the Rules and Then Play Better “You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.”

Source: Paulo Coelho's blog

Experience

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Last week I had a conversation about being a piano teacher with a pianist friend, Toru, and he asked if I already gave up entirely the chance of becoming a pianist, which means here, a performer. 

I said I didn't know, but it was hard to start again because I had a lot of years off as a solo performer, and although I still play chamber music, it's just isn't the same. My nerve just couldn't stand it. 

He said it was just about experience. 

Experience. 

Now that I come to think of it, I realize how very true this is. 

Knowledge and science can fill your brain with so many things, can make you look smart on other people's eyes, can grant you a pass to any written exams, but it won't teach you anything much about the real stuff. Only experience can make you really live life as it is. And once you get that, it can teach you more. Much more. I can try to find out all I need to know about Brahms from books and Wikipedia, read his letters and everything else I need, but until I play his music I wouldn't know what Brahms really is all about. I can teach my students about how not to get nervous on stage, I can tell them what to think whenever they have memory lapses, but until they go up there and do it themselves, they will never know how to cope with concert situations. 

And anyone can quote as many love poems as they can, but it won't be the same as experiencing being in love in the first hand.

In fact, a lot of life's most difficult challenge can only be overcome by experience alone.  

Which makes me realize, that I have to stop slacking and start collecting more experience. I have to find a teacher again. 

Thank you, Toru. :-)

Feels like doing this...

...all the time.

Post-project Blues

4 months break + succesful project = post-project blues (insomnia included sometimes).

What does it tell?

It tells me that I love doing this and I can and want to do this for the rest of my life.

Things Money Can't Buy

I just closed my first project for this year. Two concerts by two good friends of mine who study in Utrecht and from audience point of view, and judging by end result only, everything went superbly well. The piano recital was sold out, with warm audience who gave standing ovation for the artist and made him feel super happy, and the art song recital was packed with 90% seats sold and impressed audience who said that they were very "satisfied" with the artists' performance. 

Behind the stage, there was EPIC drama. 

I do not want to elaborate, but here's something I learn.

You can have all the money in the world, but you can still end up having nothing but money. Some things in the world remain the same, and as my experience can tell me, the most important things are those that money can't buy, like friendship, professionalism, good manner, and good reputation.

I know I'm not loaded with cash, but I know I'm rich, because I have things that matter most. 

Blockheads..

...will be blockheads, and eventually will end up with other blockheads.

The world isn't fair, but that's just the way it is.

Bel far niente

"The beauty of doing nothing."

So has my sabbatical period taught me so far. 

I was just talking to parents of a talented 9-year-old pianist who was complaining about how their son is not practising enough. We just organised a piano recital together and Toru, my pianist friend who played for the recital, after listening to them worrying, said that he seems like a perfectly fine, normal boy and it's important for him to be a happy kid first and foremost. Something which I immediately agreed on. 

Many parents, especially those with gifted children, sometimes worry that their kids may not be using their time to do "important" or "useful" stuffs and that because of that, their time and talent would be wasted. But Toru said childhood only lasts a few years and actually it's very, very short so kids should really enjoy that while they can. Ditto. 

My French teacher, who is trying to write a book, called me last week and after a while she began to confess that she's been struggling with depression because she hasn't been able to write anything worthy for the past 5 weeks. But every time she tried, she felt so tired. So I told her that she should maybe take a break and not trying to do anything because even trying can be very tiring sometime. I also told her that it's absolutely all right to do nothing. She wrote me today and told me that she actually felt better after she released the pressure of accomplishment and just do things she feels like doing. 

In the competitive world today, people often forget or even fear that when they do nothing, they will be left behind and life will pass them by. But I really learn from this first four months that doing nothing has its own virtue and value. Of course everyone has different idea about "doing nothing" (my idea of it consists of teaching 20 hours a week and not doing any projects), but I think the concept is to slow down and take it easy. In a way it's paying respect to ourselves and our body and not letting ourselves become machines.

I am really happy that I made that decision. It was hard at first, but with the break I actually liberate myself from that tendency to do bigger, better and more, and not taking a step back to re-think. It's always good to think, and I can say and recommend to anyone right now that it's always good to do nothing. It's a luxury. Not everyone can do that. If you have the opportunity to do it, you should grab that chance.   

How do you explain love?

I just picked up a pianist friend who came from Japan tonight. I had to wait at the airport for an hour before he finally showed up, then we had to wait for an hour before our bus arrived, that was 7.15 pm, and then we had to put up with Jakarta's traffic jam for 2 hours before finally heading to Bandung. 3 hours later we got to the hotel where my friend will be staying for a week, which is sometime after midnight, and at half-past midnight I came home. 

My friend is going to have a solo recital on Thursday, and on Friday with another baritone friend.  I was happy. I couldn't care less about getting some financial reward out of all those 5-hours sitting in the shuttle, but I was happy. 

How do you measure happiness? My parents are not happy. For the hundredth time, they can't understand that I can really feel joy and elevation and all those shiny adjectives only by meeting new people and talk to them about music and stuffs. They can't believe that I'm actually fine not being paid for this because I simply want to help my friends and my community. They think I've lost my mind. 

But how do you measure love? It's absurd. I don't want to put price on things I love. They're invaluable. And parents should understand that. They've been there, done that. They must have gone over that moments where they would just do anything for their kids without expecting any financial remuneration. It makes me wonder, though. Do my parents put price on me?

But it's all so clear to me now. I've been delaying making any plans for my life. I still haven't decided where I want to live. I just know what I want to do. I know that classical music is my calling. And I know that I can do so many things for it. But if my parents want me to stop doing it because they say classical music won't strive here and that it's ruining my life, then it's obvious to me. I must go somewhere else where I can make a living with it. I love teaching so much. I want to do it for the rest of my life. But if I have to live only with it for the rest of my life, I don't think I'll be happy either. 

Love is never a choice. You can't really say why you love certain things or certain people, and you can't choose who and what you love. But you always have options about it. You can choose to leave, or fight for it. Whatever I decide, I want to keep my options open.

In Love

Falling in love is an exciting thing.

And being in love is a wonderful thing.

Funny is, everything sounds, feels, looks and seems great when you're in love. The saddest love song can turn into a happy song, and painful memories suddenly aren't so painful anymore.

It's strange that Maupassant should say that "Love isn't eternal. We're in and out of it." But would that actually mean that love is always there?

Just saying :-)