Round Midnight

Welcome back to Tea with Liya! I feel like 2023 is sort of an "odd" number -- not just in the sense of not being divisible by 2, but rather "different" or "unexpected." Does that mean this is a good time to add a song by Thelonious Monk, a jazz pianist known for being distinctly unlike any others? I think it's the right time. Today I will be playing for you "Round Midnight," a jazz standard that Monk composed in the late 1930s or early 1940s, and published in 1943. I hope you like it!

Listen to the song here
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When I set out to learn this song, I was surprised to find that I had never played it, and that the person I was talking about it with hadn't performed it in the last 30 years. I must have assumed that, since I had heard the title so many times, I would be familiar with listening to it and had probably played it at some point, too. Once I realized I was wrong, I set out to rectify the situation -- and I now think that was a good idea. I've come back to this one quite frequently over the past year or two.

I don't know exactly how this song was supposed to connect to midnight, but I think that it creates the "dark feeling" quite well. The song is in a minor key, so that could be an easy explanation, but I don't think that's the only factor. Maybe it's because I'm playing lower on the keyboard. Or perhaps the slower tempo is making more space for silence.

(An interesting observation about the key: You may remember me posting this piece by Claude Debussy in the summer. The key of that piece, called La Fille aux Cheveux de Lin, is related to the key of Round Midnight, but the two pieces express very different feelings. Debussy's piece represents simplicity and innocence, while Round Midnight sounds more like it is fading away into darkness. The lyrics even describe a night filled with memories of a lost love.)

Image by PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay

Thelonious Monk, who composed Round Midnight, is known as a musician "famous for being different." Not only did his improvising style stand out, but he also deliberately kept up a characteristic appearance. Inspired by his style, many jazz pianists have tried to take parts of it on as their own.

However, perhaps now that Monk's recordings are so popular, the way to become like him is to not try to become more like him. After all, if you play just like him, you won't be described as a musician who brings new ideas to the table, but rather simply one that takes inspiration from him. But if you look past him and try to find your own way of playing, then you might stand a chance of yourself being remembered as unique.

I find it hard to think of a way to be different from all the other musicians I've heard. In fact, I'm not even sure if it's something we should aim for directly. From what I've learned so far, even the most unique creators still looked for inspiration from those around them. If I was trying to be different, I would probably look for ways to learn from many kinds of people and hold on to the ideas that connected with me. From there, I could probably find a way to bring those ideas together and make them my own.

That is what composers spend a lot of time doing -- taking an idea, perhaps not even one they came up with themselves, and creating their own additions to it. If they compose something that their audiences didn't expect, they might incite a lot of controversy, and that's a risk they have to take. But one day, they might become "famous for being different."

Keep filling your teacup with music!
~Liya