Fiona Cunninghame-Murray

About this Offering

My peace offering is a recording of me playing the first movement of J.S. Bach’s Sonata no. 1 in G minor. This year has culminated in many negative things: a global pandemic, an election, protests, online learning, and more. Throughout my time in this class, I resonated with many of the readings, however, one that stuck with me the most was Chantal Nguyen’s “We need to end the all or nothing approach to careers in music”. Music, in my experience, has always been advertised to me as a “do or die” sort of thing. Musicians tend to hyper-fixate on the technical aspects of music. While things such as technique and intonation are important steps to enhancing musicality, I think that people tend to forget the most important reason why we dedicate our time to music. Music is an outlet for expression. It can be used as a tool to work through emotions and in today's world, and I think it is essential that we as musicians remember this. I personally had lost sight of this until reading Nguyen’s article.

A few days after reading this article, I was scheduled to record this Bach sonata. Normally in the days leading up to a performance or recording, I spend my time analyzing every mistake and picking apart not only my work, but myself as well. This time, though, it was different. I went into this recording with the mindset that I would embrace any imperfections that occurred, and instead of worrying about what others might think, I would just enjoy the music I produced. This mentality gave me a freedom that I had not experienced since I was much younger, and for the first time in the very long and painful year of 2020, I felt at peace. As I was playing, I remembered how much I truly love this sonata and realized that I had spent so much time worrying about the details that I had forgotten to appreciate this stunning piece.

I wanted to use this recording as my peace offering because I hope that other musicians will remember that they are allowed to make mistakes. I know this is a difficult concept for most people, including myself, so as an exercise for both you and me, I invite whoever is listening to this to notice my mistakes. This recording is not perfect, but it is a reminder to myself and others that sometimes we are allowed to play music without worrying about technique. Sometimes we must play, just for the sake of having fun!

Peace Builder Biography

My name is Fiona Cunninghame-Murray and I am a violin performance major at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance. I have been playing violin since the age of four, I also play piano, guitar, and am an alto in a choir.