Yet another Orthodox student has been named a recipient of the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship award. Ela Naegele, who is a German citizen, said, “Baruch Hashem, I have amazing parents and it is to them that I owe everything. There are three things for which I am particularly grateful towards my parents: that my siblings and I grew up without any television, that my parents read to us every night before going to bed and that they encouraged us to learn to play musical instruments.
"Playing an instrument has shaped my character like nothing else: it is the best imaginable Mussar teacher. It teaches you to win and to lose, to find a balance between body and mind, between individuality and team-work, between creativity and discipline, and between charisma and perseverance.”
Well! If anyone can explain what she means about playing an instrument, please do. I can pick out a tune on a keyboard but did not study music and formally learn to play an instrument, so I have no idea what she means.
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I would think that training the fingers to work in synchrony or forcing the lungs to produce enough output to play a large tuba is what she means by involving the body and unless the performance is solo, musicians who are part of an orchestra have to be part of team work. While music can be creative, much of it is following the discipline of playing music written by someone else and learning how to play it properly. Obviously perseverance is necessary for the endless hours of practice.
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