In-Depth with Eric Schoones

Walking up the Mountain Track explains the many fascinating links between Zen and the art of music. It is about how to balance the musician’s workmanship, practice, movement and posture with the more elusive qualities of intellect, self, will and ego. Zen offers the musician a modus operandi, with invaluable insights into harnessing one’s patience, calmness, oneness, emptiness, control and happiness.

In the book we follow a young musician's fascinating journey to the secrets of his art, alternated with scenes from the lives of musicians like Celibidache, Gould, Arrau, Lipatti, Menuhin, Rubinstein and Horowitz. With the help of the many connections between Zen and the art of music-making, the author shows that the profound wisdom of Eastern philosophies can also offer musicians from the West a way to work, in Karajan's words: "to harmonise the knowledge, the ability, the will and the achievement" 

One of the book's remarkable insights is that, despite stylistic and aesthetic differences, the great masters of music over the past 400 years agreed on many things in terms of technique and interpretation.

In the session we will discuss what musicians can take home from Zen: a mental attitude, patience, how to work, (just do your job and don’t think about fame or success). The letter Dinu Lipatti wrote on his ‘method’, is very much Zen, and we find the same ideas with Joseph Hofmann and Rachmaninoff for example.

Knowing how Lipatti, Rachmaninoff, Gould and many others practiced is very helpful for any musician and the ideas of Celibidache and Maria João Pires on interpretation can guide us to finding the true self in music, serving the composer while not forgetting about your own personality. The most beautiful thing in music making.

More information: www.zen-musicianship.com

Alexander Gavrylyuk on Eric Schoones' "Walking up the Mountain Track": 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEvpSj5PAok

Join us for this inspiring in-depth session on May 22, 2023!