AN EVENING WITH BRAHMS
On the night of April 1962, the audience at Carnegie Hall in New York was in turmoil. The famous conductor Leonard Bernstein advances on stage - alone. However, it was announced in the program that he would play Brahms' first concerto for piano and orchestra with Maestro Glenn Gould. Arrived in the middle of the scene, the conductor warns : "Mr. Gould is well there backstage, he is not ill, rest assured and he will come and play in a few moments !" The surprise of a conductor who steps onto the world's largest stage to talk before conducting leaves room for questioning, slightly embarrassed whispers. "However," he adds, "I must tell you before starting the concert that despite all my respect for Glenn Gould's genius, I absolutely do not agree with the tempo he has chosen. Out of admiration for his talent and the immense musician that he is, I will follow him in this vision of the work, but it is not mine. So the real question tonight is : who's the boss ?!"
Stupefaction and laughter in the room, here comes the New York audience lined with existential suggestions before the music even begins. Come to spend a nice evening with Brahms, the spectator is on board at all costs !
In 2019, the musician and the woman I am are wondering about the notion of power in our age, both powerful and crazy.
BE A HEADLIGHT
A quote from Buddha says : "He who is the master of himself is greater than he who is the master of the world."
In hypnosis we learn how much we constantly juggle with a multitude of parts, characters in us. All these facets that sometimes make us say, "I wasn't myself..."Who was it then ? In a true theatre of the imagination, we sometimes find ourselves in the grip of several conflicting roles. The famous "I would like to do this but I don't."or on the contrary :"I don't know why I can't stop doing this..."Until the "I'm stupid !"(who says that ?) It is then that a negotiation between the parties begins to allow the transformation (of a behavior, a habit, a problem) to take place. But then, who is the conductor ? Who is the director, the author, the real hero of this crazy tragi-comedy ?
We have known since the dawn of time how much music has immense power. It affects our moods, our minds, our emotions. Like a film that we know is made from scratch, music has the ability to make us cry, to make us happy, to make us dance, to motivate us, to frighten us, to make us love, nostalgic, heroic... Music simply - but no less masterfully - connects us to our own power. This is where its magic lies. And its necessity.
The emotions to which it connects us already exist within us. Music reminds us of ourselves. That's all. That's all. So, connecting people to their power through the power of music is my intention.
A few years ago, I was looking at the world - and especially the world of music - from old conditioning, from certain unconscious dogmas that made me believe that I shouldn't be too sensitive for career, business, power. Being strong therefore meant not showing too much of this sensitive part of yourself....
Would directing your life or a project then require constant protection ? And what if we are rightly so? Moreover, from where and according to what criteria is this too much ?
THE POWER OF THE HEART
In fragile, there is agile...
To show oneself with authenticity, to reveal one's humanity even in its perfect imperfections, one needs a sacred inner power. To have crossed this well of meaning to find the reflection of the stars...
Charisma is not the absence of vulnerability. And being "solid" is not the absence of humanity. That's what we do with it, the light we put on these facets, the love with which we look at these characters in our great symphony. Finally, the acceptance of our divine singularity.
To be naked is to be full of oneself. And to be aware of it.
If the question of assuming all of one's parts of being sometimes arouses emotion, often reactions, it is not the prerogative of musicians. On the other hand, it offers artists a beautiful metaphor of the human race: in a field where there is more talk of hyper-sensitivity than of mechanical rollers, can I once and for all open my heart or should I be wary ? Can I play cards on the table or do I have to keep my game ? In hypnosis, I like to say that all that really matters during this time of exploration is : where it comes from and where it goes. The gesture, the intention that precedes the note. It's all here. Then it's already played ! And it's only the vehicle, the means, the instrument... We know that as musicians. But do we apply it as human beings ?
ACTION !
It is generally accepted that the leader is the one with the most expertise in the field in which he or she takes over. Is it an expertise of the mind, of the action, of the emotion ? It doesn't matter ! Being a leader, a virtuoso, a leader, is above all about making the decision and taking action.
Boldness will then need all the humility to continue on its way. When I play with other musicians, whether as a chamber musician or as a soloist with orchestra, there is always a moment when one guides more than the other, then we are in fusion for a few moments and a theme takes over before another and so on. When the momentum is clear, right, true, we do not question the one who guides. The privilege of leading is above all to take the risk of responsibility in action, to go to the end of the act.
THE ART OF RECEIVING
In hypnosis as in music (and contrary to what one might think), the most important thing is not to talk but to listen. However, if we naturally learn to speak, we learn little to keep quiet ! And above all, we learn little to listen - which is different from keeping quiet... Like so many interpretations of a sentence, there are a thousand ways to listen. For example: do you listen to yourself knowing already what you are going to say the next moment ? Do you listen from your opinion ? Do you listen to each other's rhythm ? His emotion ? His intonation, his voice dynamics? Do you listen to the silences between the words ?
A woman once upset me by saying to me after a concert : "I thought we were listening with our ears and I just realized that we are listening with every cell of our body, every heartbeat, every pore of our skin."
Some hypnotists have captivated me with their art of listening. Listening could be to the word what the art of receiving is to the art of giving. There is a captivating intensity in this welcome - almost active. Arnaud Desjardins recommended to be : "internally actively passive, externally passively active." By repeating this sentence over and over again, it is possible that you will go into a trance !
Receiving is a gift, the gift of receptivity. To give, on the contrary, is to welcome the openness of the other. Taking is the poor man's art! As the movement of life allows us to breathe in and out, we no longer know, at some point, who gives and who receives since both are necessary. During a state of grace in concert, I no longer know how much I listen, if I am the one who plays, if it is the whole audience or if it plays... A professor at the conservatory so accurately told me: "When you accompany, you don't follow. You have to anticipate !"
SINGING IN THE RAIN
In the same way, it is not making the rain stop but dancing in the rain that allows us to be in our true power. In the first case, we remain dependent on the other, on the power of rain to be pleasant or not, even if we have the means (to a certain extent) to eradicate it. In the second, the feeling, the choice of action, the freedom to create "with" makes us powerful and responsible for our lives beyond the goodwill of the elements! If we had to wait for the "perfect" context to come true, a whole lifetime would not be enough. And what a breach of the great human adventure ! It is in full knowledge of the facts - perfectionist to the very end - that I laugh at myself !
According to Artistote, freedom is about depending on someone greater than yourself, and slavery is about depending on someone smaller than yourself. Our emotions overwhelm us and connect us to the world in the most grandiose of ways. Are they given the necessary space and listening ? It is a place that escapes our illusion of leading...
I observe the foliage following the wind through storms and lulls as an invitation to be a creator-creator.
Mr. Bernstein, by opening his heart so vertiginously to the public, by giving himself so authentically to Mr. Gould and by welcoming so joyfully what is, did he not show, not without a gentle indecency and mad persuasion, the ecstatic power he put into dancing with the notes ?
With infinite power of music I wish you a wonderful week !
Hélène Tysman
