The Good Musician

John Williams Observations

by Arjun Muralidharan on December 3rd, 2007

After the numerous comments on the wildly successful post about John Williams, I thought I’d share my ideas with you all the same, concerning his performance we so heartily discussed in that very post.

(Side note: I know, I’m a great sarcast, but understand the humiliation of begging for comments and getting none :-) ).

Here are some things he did that really struck me.

• He smiles. I think this is an important aspect: If you can convey a feeling of happiness over a piece or performance, your audience will feel the same.

• He is humble. Of course this is subjective, but to me, he seemed to have a very humble attitude towards what he was doing, and paid his respects to the audience through low bows and acknowledgement.

• He takes his time before jumping into the piece. He puased, focused, the smile vanished, and he was in the mood of the piece. I loved the fact that he didn’t get hurried, as so many amateurs tend to do, and I almost do it every time.
• He played with full employment of his ability. Now before you say “Yeah well, he’s John Williams after all”, I want you to know that just because you aren’t as famous or talented as him doesn’t mean you’re performance has to suck. If you put all you have into a concert, and aren’t playing a piece out of your range, you can shine - if you just prepare properly and give it your all.

Just a few observations, I’m sure you have thousands more, just like last time :-).

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