Lucie Rivet — My Relationship with Music
26/9/2023
A personal blog article from HP Foundation Volunteer Lucie Rivet
The first contact I had with music is not something I can remember. I was born prematurely and had to stay at the hospital for more than a month. My parents decided to pick up a variety of music disks from different repertoires and asked the nurses to play them for me during my recovery. I have often wondered if this was the moment I got to hear the sound of the harpsichord for the first time.
Seven years later, the harpsichord was the instrument I chose when my parents asked about my interest in the field. Music has been a huge part of my surroundings, and I have always been particularly receptive to it. Naturally, I had to pick an instrument large enough to fill the biggest bedroom at home…!
To the dismay of most of my teachers at the conservatoire, I have never learnt to read a score properly. Some wanted me to use theory to identify and justify what I could already hear in class. I would learn a piece by heart instead, listening to it on repeat and memorising it, before giving it my own twists on the keyboard. I am grateful for the instruction I received from my harpsichord teacher, Elisabeth Joyé, who was armed with more patience and talent than I could fathom at that age.
I would make up for my lack of academic rigour with my spontaneity and artistry, choosing to follow my instincts rather than attempting to defy theories and systems I would not learn. I like to believe that I would have explored more about improvisation if I had kept practicing the instrument, but I always knew I would never want to perform on stage.
To this day, music is something I am learning to define; through tones, silences, sounds and how all of it echoes within the context around me. I am unable to understand it with notes and keys. I feel and picture it instead, developing images and stories inside my head in tune with it. For that reason, I am especially fond of film music and video games soundtracks: I am particularly obsessed with soundtracks from the Assassin’s Creed series, Elden Ring, Hades and Genshin Impact.
Music makes me want to act and to create. I follow it quite impulsively, moving to a plurality of genres that contrast one another depending on my state of mind. As a Volunteer of the HP Foundation, I believe it is crucial to show people from a young age that music is a way to express yourself, and that everyone should be free to embrace and engage with any kind of music that speaks to them.
