Black notes; white page.
To the untrained eye, it is naught
but a sheet of meaningless specks.
There are sets of five lines, divided into sections - each piece containing its own unique, sporadic dose of splotches - each circle with a stem, and some stems with a flag and a few other odd symbols here and there.
The page of markings is nothing; it is purely a metaphor for that which few can hear, simply a code which none can understand -
None save the musician.
He or she takes the printed secret and unlocks its message, gives voice to its two-dimensional silence, turns an enigma into a masterpiece.
The hands of these musicians bring the music to life, and create something mere words cannot express. They turn black specks into notes, and string notes into phrases, phrases into a story, a range of emotions. The written notes are simply suggestions, ideas, outlines, but in the hands of the gifted, they become a combination of the composer's intent and the musician's interpretation.
But it starts with black notes and white page.