In my classes, flutists at every level learn how opposites—like tenderness and severity, accuracy and wildness, toughness and gentleness, cheerfulness and sadness—are made one in successful flute playing. Amazingly, a person's playing improves technically as one understands better how one sees the same opposites in one's own life.
We study questions like these: Does the way we see the world affect how we play—our position, articulation, breath control, phrasing? Is there anything in ourselves that interferes with our attaining the greatest beauty we are capable of?
And there is this: Musicians can learn—and need to learn—from the beautiful way opposites are made one in music to do a good job with these very opposites in our lives. Through the critical method of Aesthetic Realism, we can.
You can contact me at the Aesthetic Realism Foundation, 212-777-4490, www.AestheticRealism.org.
