Percy Grainger was born in Brighton, Melbourne on the 8th of July, 1882. Showing an aptitude for the performing arts since he was young, he gave his first public performance when he was 12 as a pianist, and was hailed as a child prodigy. Throughout his life, he was a composer, arranger, conductor, and a musician (solo and in an ensemble). In his life time, he gave over 3000 concerts as a pianist or a conductor.

Grainger was well known for the amount of energy he possessed. He would often run through the streets, arriving at a concert just before performance time. Why? He preferred to perform in a state of exhaustion. Because of this habit, he was known as the “jogging pianist” in London. In accordance to his spontaneity, he dreamed of having what he termed “free music”, which was a music unconstrained by fixed pitch, regular meter and human performance. For example, he made machines that could produce a long tone, with continuous changes in pitch. Music like this could obviously not be notated very easily. This machine would be a forerunner of the electronic synthesizer.

One of the most notable things about Grainger was how he threw and immersed himself fully in every task that was presented before him. He would live in a community and dress like the people living heir to learn their culture before composing. He would personally invent machines to simulate the music that he dreamed of having. A lesson that one could learn from Grainger may not be from his amazing musical prowess, but perhaps the attitude and discipline to give your all to whatever task is presented before you.

By: Tristan Poon