Supporting Your Piano Pathway
Reflection by Andrew Eales
The image of an empty vessel is a common one found in many cultural and spiritual traditions. It is a concept which is marvellously introduced in these words from the Tao Te Ching, written by the Daoist sage Lao Tzu:
“Clay is folded into a vessel,
Yet it is the hollowness that makes the vessel useful;
Windows and doors are cut out,
Yet it is their empty space that makes the room useable.”
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (chapter 11, excerpt)
translation, Edward Brennan and Tao Huang
Here’s a wonderfully pithy rendition of the first part, this time as translated by that great author Ursula K. Le Guin:
“Hollowed out, clay makes a pot.
Where the pot’s not is where it’s useful.“
Lao Tzu: Tao Te Ching (chapter 11, excerpt)
translation: Ursula K. Le Guin
In her ever-thoughtful commentary, she notes,
“One of the things I love about Lao Tzu is he is so funny. He’s explaining a profound and difficult truth here, one of those counterintuitive truths that, when the mind can accept them, suddenly double the size of the universe. He goes about it with this deadpan simplicity, talking about pots.”
A metaphor for playing
If the iconography of the empty vessel can be momentarily viewed as a metaphor for our piano playing, then perhaps the clay, design, craftsmanship and varnish can be taken for tokens of our understanding (mind), technique (body), and creative musicianship (soul). Their combined cultivation shapes us as three-dimensional pianists.
And we might wonder whether it is the music itself which fills the pot.
Perhaps that space within, framed by our piano playing ability, provides the context for our piano journey, the connections we make with others along the way, the musical communication we develop with our audience, the spark which illumines our soul, all distilled within an empty vessel that we have committed ourselves to polishing and perfecting.
In teaching, learning, practice and assessment, we often separate important aspects and areas of development. Nurturing our understanding, technical skill, and creative ability with distinct exercises and focused attention is undoubtedly helpful, enabling us to throw, hone, and polish a bigger and better ‘pot’ in which fresh music will condense and find its form.
But let’s remember that the rudimentary facets of our pianism, our musical understanding, technical accomplishment, and creative personality, are ultimately no more than a means to an end:
However shiny our vessel, however magnificent our pianism ultimately becomes, it is only useful to us as the carrier of our potential for personal connection, musical transmission, and artistic transcendence.
“Where the pot’s not is where it’s useful.”
Pianodao offers over 700 articles and reviews that are FREE to access.
If you appreciate this content, please support and follow the site here:
