The past week has consisted of a myriad of small annoyances: a student tried to cover not practicing by saying she couldn’t figure out notes she had been reading successfully for quite some time, an entire jury/final schedule had to be redone at the last minute because one student didn’t check the online finals schedule before signing up for a time, my tire pressure sensor went off for the 40th time in 2 months, I had no weapons to remove the solid ice from my car windshield yesterday morning, and once the car thawed and I reached the studio, I was greeted by the sound of clanging, banging, and circular saws from workmen right outside my door.

Listening to the Christmas station on Pandora on my 5 hour roundtrip commute helped to mitigate my stress and allow the holiday spirit to overcome these and other irritations. Most of the renditions were time honored favorites- who doesn’t love Anderson’s Sleigh ride played by the Boston Pops? There were witty arrangements in the mix as well, including Ravel’s Bolero with the Carol of the Drums as the melody- LOL!

Yet, several pieces made my cortisol levels rise again. In fact, I found it excruciating to be in a closed car going 75 mph and no way to stop the music. These were all piano solo arrangement and either the artist, sound engineer, or producer had decided that turning the volume up and down in waves without regard for the natural phrasing or poetry of the carol was a good idea.

Ok, let me say this straight out- It’s not! Just because you can turn a knob, or a slider, or a virtual slider up and down doesn’t mean you should. The constant surging wah-wah is, well… irritating.

Yesterday during our Last Chance Lessons before juries, I noticed the trouble as one of my students played through her Chopin Nocturne. I brought it to her attention and told her about the aforementioned carols by way of illustration. She said, “Oh yes, I have to watch that when I sing as well. I do tend to surge.”

I wonder if this surging thing is a natural instinct or if it is learned. Examples of surging are everywhere in the audio world. While my tires were being checked for the 41st time, I heard more examples from the music being streamed in the store.

Here’s an early New Year’s Resolution: Next year I will bring examples of pieces with and without surging and we will discuss the difference between them during studio class.

But whatever will I do if they all prefer the surging???

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