PLAIN FOLK

By Billy Jones
It’s all in the way you hold your mouth

On the CBC News Hour a while ago, there was a short segment that featured a young classical pianist named Long Lang. He is considered to be one of the world’s greatest musicians and he is only in his early twenties.

This young man is a totally awesome player. However, some stuffy classical people seem to have a problem with his facial expression. I kid you not. They apparently expect him to share the same blank -- I wish I was somewhere else -- look on his face that they have. All I saw was a young man living every note he played.

Lang doesn’t screw up his face in a grotesque way. His expressions would be what you would expect from anyone savoring a moment of satisfaction or being engrossed in something requiring some deep concentration.

I was drawn to his gentile approach to the piano. I also learned that his repertoire goes beyond the classics to cover many styles of popular piano music.

My thoughts turned to singers. They can make a fortune by screwing up their faces. How come nobody criticizes them? I’ve never seen such pain. It’s hard to believe that anyone would want to suffer that much to sing a song. It hurts me just to watch some of them. Maybe it’s a financial thing. No pain. No gain.

Someone told me that the sounds that you hear and the weird facial expressions you see in many rock groups might have been borrowed from high energy gospel music. If that’s true then I think these rockers have added a little fire and brimstone of their own.

I remember how my wife used to push her tongue through the corner of pursed lips as she threaded a needle. I would kid her about it, then duck as flying debris flew past my head.

When I was younger, my musical taste included singers like pop singer, Frank Sinatra, and also the late great, country singer, Lefty Frizzell.

Frizzell’s Last Sessions album tops my list of favorite country music. Frizzell set a style that so many country singers, such as Randy Travis and Merle Haggard, adopted in their music.

Most people are not aware that Frank Sinatra had a two and a half octave range. However, I don’t recall ever seeing him wince when he reached for the high one. If you have heard Sinatra sing Old Man River, it gives you an idea of what I mean.

To compare facial expressions, I reviewed some photos and videos of me and my other musician friends that were taken during live performances. I saw some intense expressions but nothing serious. The looks of surprise when we got it right and the frowns of embarrassment that crossed our faces during a screw-up were something to chuckle over.

I always thought that my wise and wonderful mother could read my mind until she told me that she could see it all in my face.