I: Monsters and Muses

— The First Weeks of a Piano album Project

In "The Artist's Journey" by Steven Pressfield, we get to know the author's poetic view regarding the artistic creation process; a channel between different conscious states. That higher sensorial perception is described by Pressfield as the "Muse work", making allegory to the "Odyssey", classic Greek literature by Homer. The Muse is described as "Zeus daughter" or "Divide Poesy". A mystical archetype of beauty, inspiration and creation.

According to Carl Jung's model of the human psyche, "archetypes" are forces from the collective unconscious which affect and structure our individual perception of the self/identity.

In the Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by the Scottish Robert Luis Stevenson, we find the concept of two opposite forces within one: a doctor and a monster. The doctor, an intellectual able to heal, and a monster, a beast inclined to destroy. Extremes coexisting within the same body, or mind?

During the first days of commitment to a piano album as part of the conclusion work of my Music BA degree, I dived into a deep sea of muses and monsters. A rollercoaster of beauty inspirations and devastating fears. An overwhelming feeling of having something (very) powerful in my hands in favor of me and against me. At once.

I started my music degree still addressing a Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) diagnosis and its symptoms; still colliding with ferocious voices inside my head screaming in my ears. Most of the days, feeling in a battle with me, against me, and rescuing me.

With no doubt, I understood that my first biggest challenge in this project is taming myself on its singularity and complexity. Between Muses and Monsters, Love and Rage. A self-labour to go through.