Arthur Rubenstein was once asked by an ardent admirer: “How do you handle the notes as well as you do?” The pianist answered, “I handle the notes no better than many others, but the pauses – ah! That is where the art resides.”
The pauses in Rubenstein’s music is akin to the “white spaces” in printed material, or the part of the page that is left unfilled. As I write a brochure or flyer, I struggle to leave in white pace, as my desire to fill the page with words and images drives me.
I’m struck that my life contains the very same struggles. My days are so filled with activities, conversation, driving, working, doing, endlessly doing, that I rarely allow “white space” to exist in my day. And yet it may be in the white space that the meaning in my activities emerges, as in the pianist’s pauses being the true expression of the art form.
I tend to entrain with the activities, the “notes.” What if I changed my approach and entrained with the pauses?
Entrainment. What is it? Entrainment is the process by which the natural rhythms fall into synchronization with each other. In his book Timeshifting,
When I take the time to meditate, walk outdoors, or write in my journal I entrain with the “pauses,” as Rubenstein would say and there is magic to be found here. When I spend time with girlfriends talking about my hopes, my journey and my inner life, I am satisfied in a way that is too rarely felt.
Together we can create a pause in our busy lives; together we can invest time in the “pauses” of life, and we can entrain with a different rhythm… sisterhood, spirit and a little chocolate.
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Posted by Sue Blaney, Magic Party Council Member
2 comments:
I enjoyed your article, especially the anecdote about Arthur Rubinstein and his use of "pauses!" Great analogy for those who understand music. One has only to listen to him playing the beginning of Chopin's 2nd Scherzo (B-flat minor) to be amazed as to how important such "pauses" are (with the ringing tone of the piano washing-over the audience to great effect)! Thanks and Good Luck! Jon Cahill
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/HomageToArthurRubinstein/
Thanks Sue. I have been entraining without even knowing it!
I have been reading Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth (along with every other Oprah watcher) and practicing being present. I stop and enjoy the shower when I am in it. I breathe in and enjoying my body when I lie in bed at night. I pause before writing an email and enjoy the moment.
Thank you for sharing your insight in such a beautifully written way.
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