And you’re an artist too!
Yesterday, I brought out my rosewood block flute again. Of course, I don’t play perfectly, my fingers are slow, and my tongue is heavy. I flip through the notes, play one piece and then another, and then I remember the pieces I used to know by heart… I let the melodies carry me, I open up my soul and I simply am. Afterwards, when I put down the flute, I am in the clouds and full of joy…
And I think about a lecture I recently heard, about “taking the magic away from the world”. One of the reasons lies in the neglect of art. Until the 19th century, it was quite common to express oneself through art. With the invention of the gramophone and other sound carriers, anyone could reproduce music anytime. Virtuosity emerges, great artists are celebrated like stars. The musical layperson leaves artistic action to the masters, admires them, applauds, and becomes just a passive consumer of art. Today, someone is considered “cultured” if they visit the theater, opera, or museum and allow art to influence them.
In Vienna. In the House of Music, several rooms are dedicated to great composers and the cultural life of their time. The “Schubertiad” is also displayed – a house concert where Schubert first presented his work to the public – completely immersed in the “salon culture”. From the 18th to the 20th century throughout Europe, in Russia, and in the United States, we find musical-literary salons. These were private social gatherings where people would assemble in the home of a lady, known as the salonnière. There were literary, musical, as well as political and scientific salons. People didn’t just come as listeners or spectators but for the artistic or literary contribution, to also contribute something themselves.
In families, “house” music with a small number of participants was cultivated, hence also called chamber music. Daughters from bourgeois families received piano and singing lessons. However, art was also cultivated in the countryside: after finishing work, people would sit together and sing or play instruments. In spinning mills. In the only heated room in the house during winter, peasants from different farms would gather to work together, talk, and sing. During traditional celebrations, they would dance and sing together. Musical activities were an integral part of life, along with artistic crafts such as embroidery, sewing, knitting, and the like. People were creatively active in many areas. Today, most people spend their evenings in front of the TV or computer. They passively entertain themselves or move through virtual worlds. Their “cultural” life is limited to listening to music, going to the movies, concerts, or the theater. Singing only happens on rare occasions. Does modern life truly make us richer, or could it be said that because of it we are poorer…? Four Good Reasons to Be an Artist Yourself: 1. Art makes us better. According to Plato, the idea of Beauty is an archetype that we humans can most easily recognize. Through beauty in nature or art. In us, higher feelings are stirred by beauty. Beauty is closely linked to other archetypes: Good, Truth, and Justice. Contact with Beauty activates the most subtle aspects of the psyche, especially when we are artistically active ourselves, creating Beauty as a metaphysical good. This enriches and refines our character, as well as our environment.
2. Art spiritualizes us
Hegel speaks of natural beauty and artistic beauty, giving greater importance to the latter. Because artistic beauty is beauty born from the spirit and continuously reborn beauty. Those who are artistically active, whether singing, dancing, painting, or sculpting, realize the idea, the spiritual representation that the senses can perceive. According to Hegel, beauty is a sensory representation of the idea. Unlike animals, humans have the ability to give material form to spiritual reality – a profound experience that spiritualizes.
3. Art complements us
Schiller, in his Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man, emphasizes the importance of play. It can enrich us by offering the liberation of the soul. Uniting the sensory-emotional and spiritual-rational aspects of a person increases holistic development. Play, and play alone, is what makes a person complete and nurtures their dual nature simultaneously (…). A person is most themselves when engaging in play.
We can beautifully express this in German by saying: “Instrument spielen” (“Playing an instrument”). In play, we are present in the here and now, surrendering to divine leisure.
Art is worship
We must not forget the spiritual aspect. The source of all art lies in the sacred. Just think of the cave paintings of Altamira, fertility idols, as well as masked dances and hymns. All these works were created as a form of prayer to invoke or worship a higher power.
Tips
1. Sing whenever you can. Whether alone in the shower, on a bicycle, in the car, with friends around a campfire, or during joyous gatherings. It is a miraculous remedy against bad moods, fear, stress, or depressive feelings.
2. If you have ever played an instrument, revive that passion. Search for it, or sit down at the piano. No matter how skilled you are. It’s not about the outcome, but about playing. Being able to produce something on your own gives power and brings joy.