Being calm doesn't mean having no brilliance, overly passionate is not necessarily wonderful - Tony talks about his composition "At Ease"
Tony Chen
This year will soon be over. I didn’t think too much when I
was doing my regular “SOH Weekend Music Show” radio show last Friday on Dec
27th before I suddenly realized during the broadcasting that it was the last
Friday show in 2013!
At the time when the page of 2013 is about to turn over, I
want to share with you the most important state of mind of mine that I have
harvested this year, which is to be “at ease”. The friends who are familiar
with me might ask, isn’t it the name of your new music album? Yes exactly, the
album and its main featured music piece released in October this year is called
“At Ease”. I was lucky enough to be nominated for the Best Music Piece in the ContemporaryOrchestral/Instrumental Category of 2013 Hollywood Music In Media Awards™ with“At Ease”, which is the only original composition I did in 2013.
I understand that many people are very curious about the
story behind the creation of music. Actually the creative process of this piece
is just as simple as the meaning of its name “At Ease”. Actually the Chinese
name of the song “踏實” also has the meaning of “Down to earth”. “At Ease” is a
result of being “Down to earth” as I understand it.
Starting from a simple
piano melody, followed by strings coming in, the music gradually develops to
the final brilliant climax. But no matter how brilliant the music becomes, the
inherent simplicity and purity always stay solidly from the beginning to the
end in a “down to earth” manner, never waved. Just like the colorful life is being created through the “down
to earth” mindset as the foundation. This is what I would like to express
throughout the piece, I hope it is in place.
The piece is posted here, and I hope you like it!
I left China in 2003. And between 2009 and 2013, from the
UK to New York, the U.S. East Coast, and then coming to the San Francisco Bay
Area located at the West Coast, I have experienced many things. I have been
searching in my heart for the path I should walk as well as the appropriate
understanding and attitude towards things. I came across many situations such
as anxiety, hesitation, persistence, pursuit, etc, until recently I have
started to feel relatively at ease and calm in my mind.
“At Ease” expresses a state of mind – I have my dream, but I
don’t expect too much about the result. I just feel I will have what I ought to
have, and I am not attached to the final goal too much, so my heart is
naturally staying at ease. I move towards my goal with a relaxed mood, enjoying
every moment of my life.
Actually everyone is going after dreams, wishing his/her
life being unordinary. However the anxiety and suffering is then caused by this
pursuit of the dream, which may be unrealistic at all. It’s right to have a dream,
and we should work hard to achieve it. But it’s worth noting that paying too
much attention on the dream itself may cause us to ignore the things we already
have around us, which we should always consider cherishing. In fact cherishing
what we have is an important step to achieve our dreams.
Also you may think your life is too ordinary. Actually there
are many things out of ordinary within your ordinary life as long as you open
your heart to feel and realize it. There is an ancient Chinese saying that
“Governing a large country is just like cooking a small dish”! See, even
cooking contains lot of truths, which may just easily solve your problem that
is bothering you badly. So why not leading your life with a mind of “at ease”,
and enjoy the glorious taste hidden within the “peaceful ordinary”?
Being calm or
peaceful does not mean having no brilliance, and overly passionate is not
necessarily wonderful.
This is the ideological foundation and inner meaning of
writing "At Ease". Sometimes before starting a music creation, I
really don’t know where to start. I play the piano here and there ending with
only fragmented melodic ideas. Actually I have found out that getting stuck at
the beginning takes place often when I am too attached to making it become a masterpiece,
paying too much attention on reaching perfection. Although the images of my perfection
wish in my mind constantly emerge, I still can do nothing. The attachment of
that masterpiece or perfection causes me forget about the simple musical
elements that I have already known fully about.
It’s the same in our daily life. It’s just enough to have a
wish, and more attention has to be made on being “down to earth”, and starting
things with small simple little things, as all big things are built up from
little things step by step.
Following this principle, this piece “At Ease” starts with
simple piano melody without fancy tricks, opening an easy channel for the
simple strings to come in. Simple musical elements accumulate as the music
plays, inspiration thus coming much easier. In the end, all simple elements
build up the final glorious climax. Therefore, there are so many glorious
tastes within peaceful life for us to discover, the only fear is that we don’t
cherish what we have but to overly pursue things we don’t have, and ends with
nothing.
By the way, don’t forget my special New Year offer on my website, including free music downloads as well as special discount of my album purchases before January 15th 2014!
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