How Bach inspired Nina Simone to “dedicate her life” to music
Every artist has that story. Every artist has that one tale of the moment when it all hit them and suddenly their purpose seemed clear as a lightning strike of inspiration flashed. For Nina Simone, that came at a young age.
However, Simone’s early sense of purpose was originally driving her down a different path. Now known best as a vocalist and piano player, as an artist that straddled the worlds of jazz, blues and even pop. She’s also celebrated for her activism, as Simone dedicated so much of her music and career to the civil rights movement and to speaking on social and political injustices.
But there’s an alternate timeline where Simone never sang and certainly never wrote any of the hits she’s loved for today.
In that reality, instead, Simone was merely a figure at the piano. She would have been sitting at the back of an orchestra instead, or touring opera houses rather than festivals. Instead, she would have been a classical pianist, not a singer-songwriter, and perhaps not an icon.
That’s the path her biggest influence started sending her down, though. When considering the artists who inspired her as a young kid, none were more important than one musician. “Once I understood Bach’s music, I wanted to be a concert pianist,” she said, and in an instant, her dream seemed clear.
“Bach made me dedicate my life to music, and it was that teacher who introduced me to his world,” she added, putting the credit for her entire musical career at the feet of the Baroque period composer.
Her love for classical music connects to her certainty that her talent was “a gift from God”. So far removed from any sounds she grew up with, she seemed to just have a natural affinity and understanding for classical music that no one around her could quite understand.
“At six months old, my mom says that I knew what notes were, and of course, on paper, and it scared her”, she recalled, adding plainly, “I was born a child prodigy,” or, “I was born a genius”.
Then, when she discovered Bach and instantly seemed to get it, she thought that genius would always flow down the route of classical music. She thought she’d be a composer, or play in orchestras or ensembles as a pianist. Singing and songwriting didn’t come till much later, as initially, she studied the piano at Juilliard School, then worked as an accompanist, and had no intention of being a singer for a long time.
When she did take the mic, at first, it was only just to earn money through some performances at local clubs and bars. Classical music remained her path as she declared, “It’s this close to God as I know, this cleanliness of classical music – not all of it, it’s too cold – but Bach was a master.”
With Bach as her ultimate idol, it seemed that surely his world was her world. But as she eventually opened up to jazz, blues, folk and beyond, and as she opened up her mouth to sing, her world got bigger.
