Classical music has the ability to (re)shape you.

Music has the ability of being both an abstract and a concrete concept, a harmonious combination of satisfying simplicity and disarming complexity, and has been the subject of study of many throughout the years, both for practitioners and humble listeners. Yet, no one has ever managed to define its limits, nor any proof of their existence thereof. What we might have been managed, is to recognize the effects it has on those who get involved with it though. As a root factor, we can all agree that whether listening to or practicing it plays a key role in shaping the psychological mapping of the involved.

Speaking of experience, I have been playing and studying classical guitar alongside theoretical training since I was 7. Therefore, I can safely presume that I can sense how it has affected me as a person.

First and foremost, it made me patient, meaning that I started realizing that long-term success is delivered through lots of failures of multiple fractions of a grand training scheme, rather than a rapid and messy drag race, so it’s wiser to calm down, assess the situation, meditate on the progress and proceed one step at a time, so that I don’t eventually miss the forest. This is what happens when you have to learn one or multiple pieces of music in a very specific time-frame. In order to reach the goal, which usually constitutes of nothing less than a nearly perfect performance, you have to forcefully make yourself undergo a procedure of persistence, faith, wishful thinking and patience, boring warm-ups, pain and fatigue. Thus, it would be interesting to note that the previous statement amplifies the assumption that perfection does really get extracted through a narrow and difficult path of discomfort after all.

Subsequently, music taught me the existence and importance of variability. There are multiple styles of music, which come from different clusters of people, so I had the interesting train of thought that while their psyche’s substance is not different from the rest of the population as they are all human beings, music manages to help them manifest their personalities in an explicit manner unique to each one, therefore creating a personal dent to the universe. Furthermore, this variability is also expressed not only as a single-person aspect, but also divided into periods of time, each with its own specific elements, interpreted as what the people felt to create at that particular time-frame, hence the classical musical epochs and trends. Truthfully speaking, the last sentence’s underlying meaning established the concept of common goal endeavours as a useful lesson for me, and is still meaningful to this day.

To sum up my reasoning, let me present to you the words of my close friend Mary who is a pianist, an avid musician, and a quite graceful person.

“Music changed the young Mary; a quite aggressive individual. I was an angry and reactive child, where my only choice of communication was manifested as physical abuse. Essentially, Ι was canalizing my anger and introversion towards violence — and that’s usually a quite bad indicator for a child’s future shaping —, so it was impossible to coexist with my young fellow peers, a situation where you risk your own exile. Frankly, one thing I’m quite sure for is that this ferocious temperament was working as a safe refuge since I felt that my personal space was being violated. All these up until 5, when I was introduced to the world of classical music and the majesty of classical piano. After about 2 months of early basic training, you could see a transformation upon me. Eventually I started associating with my peers while simultaneously making an effort towards controlling my anger, which was miraculously and gradually replaced with a more patient and thoughtful idiosyncrasy. The genius of classical synchronicity helped me to open up, to express myself, not just to my family but to people outside of my immediate relation circle, all before even practicing any kind of a complex piece. Through the years, musical experience became an identifier of myself, my own element, and I am quite proud about that. It dredged up the very best of me.”