James Chip Brimhall
It seems an inescapable part of our nature that great joy comes only with great effort. Music is a demanding discipline, and students can easily become lost and discouraged. The purpose of this website is to help students and parents understand the process of learning music.
Some of my students may become professional musicians; most will not. But there are many kinds of success in music, and becoming a concert level pianist is only one kind. It is not in itself more important than learning organization, discipline, self-confidence, or the joy of accomplishment.
My greatest satisfaction as a teacher is seeing the excitement in students’ eyes when they hear the new piece I’m giving them, or talking with them about some wonderful piece they’ve heard at a concert, or participating in their happiness when they’ve performed a piece better than they thought possible.
Music is life. Music is wonder, excitement, joy. Music opens us to the inner world of joys and sorrows, of fantasy, passion, and imagination. Music is the language of emotion, and allows us to say what we cannot say with words.
There is no greater gift.
The concert hall is an empty box; it is our task to fill it with fury and ecstasy and with revolution.
-Adapted from Slings and Arrows (Canadian TV show)
