The Unifier
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music”.
-Aldous Huxley
There is this amazing video posted on Instagram by Upworthy (Upworthy is a site that posts positive stories on its website and other social media). In this video, young musician Camden Stewart is playing at a public piano in what appears to be a mall. Pianist and composer Karim Kamar is probably attracted by the sound of the music. He puts down his phone and joins Stewart.
There are so many points worth discussing in this brief video that I am resorting to a list.
1. The musical piece
The music that is being played is ‘Cornfield Chase’ from the soundtrack of the movie Interstellar. It is composed by Hans Zimmer. It is absolutely soul-stirring. To see Stewart play it, intent on his music and precise in his keystrokes, is itself a balm for the eyes.
2. Two lessons
The way Stewart is dressed makes him seem like a person who could be a pianist. And then Kamar walks in. He is dressed in sporty clothes and you wouldn’t guess that he would head straight to the piano. There are at least two lessons in this. Firstly, appearances can be deceiving. If we judge people by the way they look, and the way they dress, then we are likely to go wrong.
Secondly, as author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says in her famous TED talk, it reminds us of the danger of a ‘single story’. Nobody is just one thing.
A guy can enjoy sports and also be a serious classic pianist. The beautiful dancer can also be a computer wizard. The rap singer can be good at mathematics. The grandmother who is an exemplary homemaker can also be an avid runner.
Knowing just one thing about a person does not tell us everything about them. Our minds make up stories about the identity of the people we meet based on the limited information we have about them. That does not mean those are the right stories or the complete stories.
3. The Perfect Collaboration
When Kamar plays the first keystroke, Stewart is visibly happy. To find a partner in his music. Within a few seconds, he has shifted to one edge of his stool to make a place for Kamar to sit. Sometimes Kamar plays the main notes and Stewart supports him, and sometimes they reverse roles. One pianist stepping back to let the other shine, and then vice versa. The result is beautiful. People working together can truly make magic.
4. The Effect on Spectators
A lady holding her wheeled luggage is recording the pianists in action. Two more spectators walk into the frame of the video almost simultaneously. They are a lady in a knee-length dress and a blue jacket and a gentleman eating (probably) popcorn and wearing a pink shirt. The three of them stand very still while watching the performance. At the end of the video, we briefly see that a gentleman on a bicycle was also among the listeners.
There are some pieces of music that make you want to tap your feet and sway to the music. Not this one. For a while those spectators, and we, are forced to become truly still. And watch.
Even if for a few minutes, the music compels us to abandon activity and just experience the beautiful moment.
And the music brings us together. The two pianists are unified in the creation of music. The spectators are unified in their joint attention to the magical performance.
It is a video you must watch, and it is a piece of music that you must listen to.
