How Each Note Affects a Piece

"Make every note a pearl." Has someone said this to you? Let's think about what this might mean.

Before CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), each individual frame in a full-length, animated movie had to be individually drawn and painted by an “army” of animators.
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To understand the magnitude of these projects, let's do some math:
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• The movie Snow White is an 83-minute feature.

• There are 24 frames per second, for a total of 119,500 frames.

• Each frame is a standalone work of art. So the studio had to produce almost 120,000 works of art to complete the visuals for the movie.

Why am I talking about this? There are well over 3000 individual notes in the Bartok Viola Concerto. Let’s think of each individual note in the concerto (or in whatever piece we are preparing) as individual, standalone works of art.

Much like a frame in an animated movie, this work of art has to be excellent on its own, and in the context of a larger project. You need to find a way to create new works of art at the phrase level, at the movement level, and at the level of the complete piece (not to mention the level of a compete program).

If you have weak links, the entire work of art is diminished. It's a cliche, but your notes to resemble a "string of pearls," where many small units combine to make a beautiful chain.

May all your notes be pearls.