i enjoyed a concert last night with my friends at baryshnikov arts center, of hearing the casals quartet playing some kurtag & beethoven. i wasn't so hot on their beethoven but all in all, a good outing and a good time afterwards at a diner.

once my piano teacher at school told me that what you hear in your head needs to be translated into what you play, meaning what you think you hear in your head needs to be interpreted to what you produce on the piano. oh how many hours were spent trying to coax out what my head thought of a certain phrasing into reality! but it's true, that's what one must do. if you don't hear it in your head, of how it should be shaped, how it should be played, then you really have no guidance. if you're an artist and there's no internal "standard" (if you will), well, then you can't be an artist.

i was thinking of that last night as i was listening to the beethoven quartet. it's like that with one's spiritual journey, i guess. what you know in your head (knowledge) needs to be translated into your every day behavior and actions. otherwise, it's of no use to know it. and that's the hard part and that's where hours of "practicing" will have to happen.

it's a daunting thought but it's what it is!