Reflections on a Quote by Michelangelo

“If you knew how much work went into it, you would not call it genius.”

I came across this quote by Michelangelo this week and it resonated with me.

It took over two years for one of the most revered artistic geniuses in history to complete his statue of David. But the fact he was a genius didn’t mean he didn’t have to do the work. He still had to work the marble, day after day, month after month, just so the ‘genius’ would have a chance to pop out one day through the rock.

Seems no one can avoid the work. And lots of it. It doesn’t matter if you’re gifted or brilliant. High IQ? Doesn’t matter. You still have to do the work.

I was working with one of my adult piano students this past week analyzing one of the Bach Two-Part Inventions. I pointed out where the first key change occurred, and then showed her how Bach had painstakingly set up that change several measures beforehand using a type of musical foreshadowing. She looked at me and said, “Do you think composers think about this stuff when they write music?”

Not only do they think about this stuff, they WORK on this stuff. Constantly. They work to improve their craft, to tighten up their skills, to hone their understanding of form so their musical ideas will have the best…