Please read the essay by Cosmo Buono on Franz Liszt first. 

Whatever we know about Liszt as a composer and pianist cannot and should not ever be separated from we know of his personal life, which for me is crucial to understanding him and his music.

As even the briefest of biographies will reveal, his life was not without a great deal of tragedy: his being denied admission to the Paris Conservatory simply because of foreign birth; the death of his father when Liszt was only fifteen years old; and the deaths of two of his own three children.

Still, looking back on all his compositions and his enormous success as a concert artist, one thing remains clear.  He never let the tragedies in his life outweigh the triumphs. He steadfastly remained passionate about his life and his music, and showed himself a generous colleague who wrote any number of works based on the compositions of fellow composers, thereby helping to further their celebrity.  He also taught many students free of charge, as a means of what today we like to call paying it forward.

Here is The Lightbulb Moment for me.  A musician’s life can never be separated from his music. They inform one another, with each in its own way helping to build and mold the character of the person making the music.  Everything that happens in my daily life has the capacity to show up in some form or another in my playing.  Even more important is the fact that I can never really play the same work the same way twice, because each time I perform it life is a little different for me than before. I am slightly different person, with newer ideas and more significant revelations, and as a result my playing is going to be different as well.

On one front Liszt may have gotten depressed over the difficulties of his life, but when it came to his music he took everything life put in front of him and used it to make him more generous, more giving, and a better pianist, composer, and artist.

There is a lesson in this for all of us, because our music gives us the opportunity to channel our deepest emotions—fear, sorrow, love, joy, even hate—into ways that inspire and elevate not just us, but those who listen to us.

One should therefore never separate himself from the music. There is unity of body and spirit in which neither is really dominant, but they work together to communicate the feelings of the person.  Music is part of not just who you are, it is also a large part of what you are, as a person. 

Don’t just be aware then of where life is taking your music. Be aware of where music is taking your life.