Twinn Swan

I tried once and I failed. Does that mean that I should not try again? I tried once and I succeeded. Does that I mean that I will succeed next time? Again and again, we try. Again and again, we succeed. Again and again, we fail. Around a year and a half ago, I started my journey with classical music.

Growing up, I can’t say I knew or understood how to appreciate classical music.When I first properly heard it in my 30s, I couldn’t help but wonder, “What is this music? Why did people come up with it? What is it for?”

It took a few attempts to get me to appreciate the sheer magnificence of classical music. I would watch the live concert, listen to the recording a few times and try and ‘get into it’. I can’t say it came to me naturally. It took time and it took tremendous effort.

Listening to classical music is demanding. It requires your entire brain to work. When your brain is unable to work or function at that frequency and at level, it becomes bored and tired. Perhaps that is why–for the untrained ear–classical music is sometimes described as boring. The truth is, there is nothing boring about it.

It was learning to play some small snippets of these classical pieces that made me sensitive to the sound that I was listening to. These are sounds are from another era and from another time period. When it comes to orchestral music, this often includes instruments I have never heard of, arrangements and rearrangements of well-known pieces and the sense that one’s destiny is far far greater than the solo musician.

Great sensitivity is required for every art form. Today, classical music is generally the music of those who are educated in it. Or perhaps, it is also for someone like me, who discovered it in my 30s, and realised that the world is full of possibilities that I have yet to discover.