how did Einstein help the narrator appreciate music
Answers
When I was a very young man, I was invited to dine at the house of a philanthropist. After a wonderful
dinner, our hostess took us to a large drawing room. Chairs were being arranged. “I’m arranging the
chairs for a concert”, my hostess said, “We’re going to listen to a very good pianist.”
Though everyone else was very happy, I was not. I did not understand classical music. I thought I was
tone-deaf. I sat down so that I would not be impolite and waited for the concert to begin. I did not pay
attention to the music after it began.
After a while, I heard everyone clapping, so I realised that the piece was over. Just then I heard a gentle,
but firm voice saying, “You’re fond of Bach ?”
I knew as much about Bach as I did about nuclear physics. I was going to say something ordinary so that I
could get out of the situation. I turned in order to look at my neighbour and I saw a very famous
face. It was someone with a shock of white hair and a pipe.
I knew that I must tell this man the truth. He looked at me as if my answer was very important.
“I do not know anything about Bach”, I said, “I have never heard any of his music.” He looked surprised.
“You have never heard of Bach?” he asked.
He made it sound as if I had said that I had never taken a bath!
“I’d like to understand music so that I could understand Bach,” I said, “but I’m not able to. I’m tone-deaf.”
The old man got up.
“You will come up with me?” he asked. I just remained seated. “I’m requesting you to come with me”, he
said again.
So I went up with him. He took me to a room which had a gramophone in it and asked, “What kind
of music do you like ?”
“You will come up with me?” he asked. I just remained seated. “I’m requesting you to come with me”, he
said again.
So I went up with him. He took me to a room which had a gramophone in it and asked, “What kind
of music do you like ?”
He smiled and nodded, obviously pleased. “You can give me an example, perhaps?”
I told him I like anything by Bing Crosby. At once, I could hear Bing Crosby’s voice filling the room. “Now,
can youplease tell me what you just heard?”, he said.
The simplest answer seemed to be to sing the lines.
So I sang it back to him.
He smiled. “You’re not tone-deaf,” he said.
I told him this was one of my favourite songs, something I had heard hundreds of times, so it didn’t really
prove anything.
“Nonsense!” said Einstein. “It proves everything! Do you remember your first arithmetic lesson in
school? Suppose, at your very first contact with numbers, your teacher had ordered you to work out a
problem in, say, long division or fractions. Could you have done it?”
“No, of course not.”
“Exactly! It’s like learning maths. You have to learn addition and subtraction in order to do multiplication
and division. Now I’m playing something a little more advanced.”
It was John McCormack singing The Trumpeter. “Sing that back”, he ordered.
And we went on from level to higher level until he was playing just music without words. I was amazed
that this great man was paying complete attention to me so that I could learn something new. It
was as if I was the most important person in his world. Suddenly, he got up and turned off the gramophone.
“Now young man”, he said, “We’re ready to listen to Bach.”
We went down and sat in the hall. “Just allow yourself to listen”, he said, “that’s all there is to it.”
I have heard that piece many times since that day. But I am never alone. I am sitting beside a small man
with a shock of untidy hair and a pipe in his mouth. He has eyes that are unusually warm. When the
concert ended, I too was able to clap-sincerely. Our hostess came towards us. We both stood up.
“I’m so sorry, Dr Einstein”, she said, giving me a cold look, “that you missed so much.”
“I’m sorry too”, he said, “My young friend here and I, however, were engaged in the greatest
activity of which a human being is capable.”
She looked puzzled. “Really?” she said. “And what is that?”
Einstein smiled and put his arm across my shoulders. “Opening up the frontiers of beauty.”
Answer:
Before meeting Einstein, the narrator was inconfident. He did not know about his own capability of understanding and appreciating classical music. After meeting Einstein, he realized his strengths and became self-assured. He could now genuinely enjoy music and clap for it without hesitation.