Dear friends of piano music,

 a dear old friend is trying to write a book. I don't write “tried” because I have doubts that she will make it. I think she is an excellent writer. But she is also a working mother of two small children, so that the usual balancing act between family and work for her becomes a kind of Bermuda triangle through the third component of writing. But she will do it, even if it takes an incredible amount of strength.

In Germany, a very low single-digit percentage of all professional writers can actually make a living from it. Everyone else has to leave the artist's ivory tower for many hours every day in order to prove themselves in real life. Maybe that's not so bad after all. I recently read about the famous violinist dynasty of the Oistrakh - David Oistrach was known to be one of the great world class violinists. His son Igor could not come close to his role model. His grandson, however, was called the "violin-playing head waiter" because, although he had achieved remarkable technical perfection, he completely lacked an emotional understanding of the music. Anyone who spends his life well protected in a rabbit stable where he practices tricks with his violin does not become an artist. Those who have no idea about life cannot give people anything with their music. There are no stories in their heads that are worth telling. So it is good to be in the middle of life. My great role model is the bestselling author Rosamund Pilcher, who sat at the kitchen table and wrote in the mornings when her four children were at school. Then she peeled potatoes and helped the neighbors to prepare the church bazaar. With four children you can hardly complain about boredom….

So when my alarm goes off at four thirty in the morning, I'm often very tired. But my grandma got up early to milk the cows - so it can be done. When I go to the piano and start practicing after a huge coffee with milk has gotten rid of tiredness, I am happy and satisfied. Two hours of ivory tower before life goes on with its small and large turbulence.

 Greetings and a nice first Advent

 Kerstin

 

O Holy Night (Cantique de Noël)- Adolphe Adam

https://youtu.be/s_wh3ytWvC8

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