Virtuosity can be a important part of being a musician.

The arts (music, visual art, dance, literature, film etc) should be available to all people, art and music classes should be in all schools, and every person should have opportunities to create and enjoy art. Never mind wondering if it’s good or well-made. Art keeps us connected to our imaginations, emotions, individuality, and sense of possibility.

I strongly support people who feel they can make good music even if they’re not very virtuosic at an instrument, or if they’re disabled. It can be brilliant, moving, excellent, and as communicative as any other.

Some people’s feeling about virtuosic playing has to do with anti-elitism and financial accessibility to training. But the fact is lots of people pursue advanced skill because it’s just very gratifying. Whether you’re an athlete, builder/craftsperson, or artist, you give it hours and years of your life because it’s satisfying for you. Satisfying in improving, in reaching a goal of being able to do something, in the beauty of the thing you did.

If you’re thrilled by the virtuosity of any classical musician, you have to recognize its purpose in any art. Skills make a range of things possible expressively and artistically.

In contemporary music, virtuosity comes into play, for example in Salvatore Sciarrino’s music. I feel it’s worthwhile in his pieces to try to play the natural harmonics, the gradations in dynamics, and the number of jeté notes, because the music then has a radiant sparkling beauty, a beguiling mix of notes plus noise, and motifs that are meaningful. Some gestures involve chance, and noise is part of “extended-technique” music. But the way Sciarrino shaped his phrases and rhythms suggests they aren’t only effects. Of course harmonics and bow techniques require skill, but mainly I try to communicate what I feel is the delightful spirit of the music.

There are many kinds of virtuosity in music, including those involving sensitivity, slowness, quietness, and very subtle detail. A most clichéd kind of virtuosity is speed. I find various expressive uses for velocity in a performance: 1) to evoke high intensity and the feeling of excitement (not just excitement about the virtuosity, but the emotion of excitement) 2)  to evoke the speed in the world around us, ie. a waterfall, a strong wind, a galloping animal, an airplane taking off, 3) speed+clarity can be a sensory experience of tremendous aural beauty, 3) it’s sometimes effective to play a passage quickly rather than emphasize every moment, because you can make things connect for the listener and make phrases from one thing to another.