In the same way that I went to Google last week with the question “Why is J.S. Bach so special as a composer?”, I did the same for Beethoven.  With December 16 marking his 255th birthday, I wanted to get a sense of why more than two and a half centuries after his birth he still ranks as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Interestingly enough, there are some real similarities in terms of why we praise both composers.  In the case of Bach, history maintains that mastery of counterpoint and the art of the fugue, as well as the mathematical precision of his music, have defined him as a trailblazer.

For Beethoven, it is the fact that he took Classical structure, and blended it with great emotional depth, and instead of just writing within the forms prevailing at the time, he worked to expand them by adding great emotional depth to his compositions, which formed a bridge to what would become known as the Romantic Era of music.

I also consider it very significant that both men experienced great tragedy in their lives.  Bach actually buried ten of his twenty children. His first wife, Maria Barbara Bach, died suddenly while he was away visiting his employer in Karlsbad, and was buried before his return. Beethoven had a very unhappy childhood, would propose to three different women, all of whom refused him, and as we all know, grew increasingly deaf over the course of his life.

For me The Lightbulb Moment comes with the realization that for both these men music gave their lives a sense of purpose.  They did not write because they were always happy—far from it. Both men had incredible challenges, some social, some physical, and all of them emotional, and yet their legacy remains being composers who gave us music from which we continue to study, learn, and be inspired centuries later.

There is an undeniable sense of power related to music, and its ability to help us channel our deepest and most intense emotions into feelings of strength and power in ways that nothing else can.  It would have been quite easy for Bach and Beethoven to step away from their music and feel sorry for themselves, but instead they continued to use their difficulties to dig even deeper into their souls to find the greatness and spiritual strength that is expressed through their music.

I encourage all of you, whether you are composers or performers, singers or instrumentalists, to understand, realize and appreciate that no matter what you feel might be holding you back in life, music has the power to shine a light on strengths and abilities that will help you to bring out the best of all that you are.

Therefore, don’t shy away from the study. Don’t resist the hard work.  Get inside the pieces you are studying, and the technique required to perform them at the highest levels.  Think of yourself as a sculptor who takes a block of marble and continues to chip away at it until he creates the beauty that was always waiting inside of it.

Let your music be something that you do not because of your abilities, but rather something you do in spite of the obstacles that seem to be getting in the way.  Music is there as a way of our getting in touch with the deepest and best of who you are.  Turn the handle on the door marked “Music”.  Through study, hard work, and practice, on the other side may just be the gateway to your soul.