Happy Accidents in Music

I'm Robert Estrin, and this is livingpianos.com. Thanks so much for joining me today.

Today I'm going to talk about happy accidents in music. Now, this transcends just performance. This can be also involved in composition, improvisation, in so many aspects of music. "Happy accidents." What am I talking about? Well, you're playing along and something happens you didn't expect in a live performance, particularly, where you can't just stop and try it again. So you go with it, and it takes you to a new place. From that point on, you envision this piece in a way that you had never imagined it before, because you just happen on it.

Now, here's the thing that I want to encourage all of you to do. At home, if something happens where you're feeling uncomfortable for some reason... Now obviously in practice, you want to stop and correct. But let's say you didn't miss something, but it just feels different. Maybe you took a dramatically different tempo and you say, "Oh, my gosh." Sometimes going with it and seeing where it takes you, you can discover things. Maybe you won't want to take that faster or slower tempo later, but you envision the piece in a new way that you never would have come upon before. Now in composition, it's even more important to experiment wildly, with abandon. Don't be worried what comes out. You can always judge later what you want to keep, what you want to discard.

I say that happy accidents can only happen if you pay attention to them because otherwise something might be a turn of a phrase, or a chord that you hadn't ever played before. You go, "Oh, that's the wrong one." You just go on. No. Actually, if it's interesting, listen to it. You might discover something. This is enjoying life, taking in the beauty, the beautiful things around you, even if you don't expect them to be beautiful. Maybe you're on your way to some beautiful scene, but you don't realize it. In the drive there, pull over the car. There's something beautiful. Yeah. You didn't plan this, but here it is. Enjoy it.

Same thing with your music, and your performance, and your composing, and your improvisation. Pay attention to what is around you, what's happening, and take advantage of those opportunities when things that you didn't expect to happen, to explore them further, because that can be the seeds of creativity.

I hope this is enjoyable for you. Again, you're welcome to subscribe to the channel as well as my Patreon channel. Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Robert Estrin here at livingpianos.com, your online piano resource.

Find the original source of this video at this link: https://livingpianos.com/happy-accidents-in-music/

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