Analyzing a piano keyboard when I was very young, six or seven years, maybe younger, I remember thinking that all the possible songs that could be written would have been written by time I was old enough to try to write one myself. With only eighty-eight keys, I was certain that there were a great many possible ways to arrange them into songs, but that it would be a limited number. Surely, eventually, all the notes would be arranged in all their possible arrangements. My young brain tried to figure out eighty-eight times eighty-eight times eighty-eight without much success. Not that math of any kind would have helped my flawed thinking.
I told you I was very young.
Tickling the ivories
I’m sure there’s some developmental thing in a child’s brain that keeps them from recognizing the idea of unlimited or of the infinite.
It’s been more than a few decades since my naïve theory on the limitations of musical possibility and I still can’t fathom the infinite. Unending numbers? Gaaa!! The Universe? Too big!! My brain does this twisty, jerky stuttering thing, like our old Toyota truck does at intersections, the idle not quite keeping the engine running smoothly. And my stomach joins in with this weird rumbling, sputtering thing when I attempt to grasp the idea of forever.
Maybe there’s something in the human brain that only recognizes limits, boundaries, the corporeal and the tangible. Maybe it’s just me.
It’s not that I don’t believe in those kinds of things, it’s just that I can’t get my head around the ideas. There’s no experience to measure it against and no comparison to give me perspective.
Call me childish. Call me naïve. Rather than putting too much energy into the unfathomable, I’ve chosen to simply enjoy the music.
You can revel in the music today, too!
The links below will take you to some fun and varied piano selections. It’s just a tiny taste of what’s out there. Enjoy!
Kami's Beautiful Morning 