Have you ever given much thought to the similarities between playing a piano and the game of chess? Both have black and white pieces / keys, awaiting the commands of their masters. Both endeavors involve creativity, and both have the task of containing opposing forces that must be controlled for success to be earned.
The feeling of approaching a piano keyboard, the keys casting a shadow from an impartial light, awaiting you and no other, is a magical moment. You close your eyes, place your fingers on the keys and search for inspiration. Where will this journey take you? Will you run into old friends, past melodies dancing along the edge of your memory or discover new friends?
Do you see the possibilities?
Trying to focus your mind as you search for inspiration, fighting off the howls of insecurity, yet sadly recognizing that creativity usually fails to deliver when beckoned . . .
And yet . . . a very similar feeling awaits those who take their positions on either side of the chess board. New beginnings, a blank slate . . . where success and failure are both close friends. Do you settle for the familiar, or do you search out new and untested strategies? Do you react merely to your surroundings or do you maintain your hopes and dreams? All of these choices and much more await the player of chess, just like they await the person approaching the keys of a piano.
And yet . . . a very similar feeling awaits those who take their positions on either side of the chess board. New beginnings, a blank slate . . . where success and failure are both close friends. Do you settle for the familiar, or do you search out new and untested strategies? Do you react merely to your surroundings or do you maintain your hopes and dreams? All of these choices and much more await the player of chess, just like they await the person approaching the keys of a piano.
For instance, did you know . . . that after both players make their first move in a game of chess, there are 400 possible board setups? Or that after the second pair of turns there are now 197,742 possible games, and after only three moves, 121 million! At every turn, chess players are navigating their own distinctive path and each game usually evolves into one that has probably never been played before.
Now let's pivot our attention to the mathematics of playing a melody on the piano.
A two note melody encompass 25 possible melodies. 3 note melody jumps to 469 possible melodies. If we move to 5 notes we now have over 122,641 potential melodies. And if we go up one more note, a 6 note melody contains an estimated 1.84 million potential melodies! I'll leave you with one final formula. Using a mere ten note melody will produce over 75 billion potential melodies! (And we haven't even factored in different rhythms!)
Just these two fairly common experiences can teach us so much about life itself. About how quickly we seek to make our own individual mark on our surroundings, about the risks of taking positions without the proper weight of mental calculations, balancing the scale of patience versus aggressive.
Now let's pivot our attention to the mathematics of playing a melody on the piano.
A two note melody encompass 25 possible melodies. 3 note melody jumps to 469 possible melodies. If we move to 5 notes we now have over 122,641 potential melodies. And if we go up one more note, a 6 note melody contains an estimated 1.84 million potential melodies! I'll leave you with one final formula. Using a mere ten note melody will produce over 75 billion potential melodies! (And we haven't even factored in different rhythms!)
Just these two fairly common experiences can teach us so much about life itself. About how quickly we seek to make our own individual mark on our surroundings, about the risks of taking positions without the proper weight of mental calculations, balancing the scale of patience versus aggressive.
We are unique, gifted in a special way to make our mark in a fashion that no one else is capable of accomplishing.
Let me close with a quote from one of the most creative people who has ever walked this planet, Orson Welles.
"I don't believe in learning from other people's creativity. I think you should learn from your own vision of things and discover, as I say, Innocently, as though there had never been anybody else." Orson Welles
"I don't believe in learning from other people's creativity. I think you should learn from your own vision of things and discover, as I say, Innocently, as though there had never been anybody else." Orson Welles
