Classical music has a strong tradition of passing legacy for interpretation. Overtly, this includes teaching in a way that involves a fixed mind set. Teachers often present fingering, dynamics, tempos, voicing, emotional canvas through a lens that is inflexible. Most of us who play classical music come from this tradition, but it is slowly changing with each new generation.

It’s so important to realize that there are many truths. That’s not to say that there aren’t stylistic parameters to adhere to, but as Chick Corea once said to me: “Classical Musicians take themselves too seriously”, meaning that they are rigid in their view of the gods of music. The composer is like a god to many and what they have left behind is like the holy text that needs to be adhered to. This become quite a complicated mind-set when tackling composers like Chopin and Bach who left us variants in their musical texts, often including different notes, ornaments, pedal markings and many other details. How can there then be one truth.

This mind-set is further exacerbated by the “Conservatory” who puts metronome and interpretive markings where they never existed in the original texts. Conservatories also often produce recordings that set an expectation for interpretation. I actually have a friend who is a famous Canadian violinist who was asked to record an entire grade of music for a Conservatory. He’s super famous internationally as a great musician, but was told to adhere to the metronome markings the Conservatory had added to many of the pieces.

When we’re younger, we need models, so having clear instructions to imitate is a helpful framework to build a foundation. There also needs to be a clear pathway to encouraging students to interpret themselves so that they can become artists. Here’s hoping that the classical music lineage continues to promote some free expression so that everyone has the potential for artistry and not just imitation.