Harmonious Flavors: The Symphony Between Classical Piano and Culinary Art
By Dr. Hwa-Jin Kim
What do piano scales and sourdough bread have in common?
Both begin with the simplest of building blocks, and through patience and practice, they transform into art. In this post, I explore the parallels between music and cooking — from structure and senses to Rossini’s love of food — ending with a Bach prelude paired with fresh sourdough.
The Art of Practice: From Scales to Recipes
Piano and kitchen lessons: practice makes creativity possible.
Scales and onions don’t have much in common—until you’ve practiced both for hours. At the piano, scales build strength and fluency. In the kitchen, chopping, stirring, and kneading create the foundation of every dish. At first, both feel repetitive and clumsy. But with time, those motions settle into muscle memory. What once was effort becomes expression.
I’ve seen it in my students. Their first C major scale is hesitant, every finger searching for its place. Weeks later, the same scale flows with ease, like a natural song. I’ve felt it myself in the kitchen—standing over a pot of risotto, stirring endlessly—until one night the texture was silky, the flavor balanced, and the dish transformed.
Practice in both music and cooking is not punishment.
It is permission—the doorway to freedom and artistry.
Composing a Meal: Musical Structure in Cooking
A well-crafted meal shares the same architecture as a piece of music:
Opening movement: an amuse-bouche to awaken the palate.
Theme introduced: a light appetizer that sets the tone.
Development: the main course, full of contrast, depth, and tension.
Resolution: dessert, echoing earlier flavors, bringing balance and closure.
Just as harmony and contrast shape music, sweet and salty, smooth and crunchy shape a meal. Both arts thrive on balance—unity enriched by variety.
Sensory Experiences: Listening and Tasting
Music and food both invite us into multisensory experiences. In music, we hear not only notes but silence, resonance, and subtle shifts in tone. In food, we savor taste, texture, aftertaste, and the pause between bites.
Studies show music can even change how food tastes—higher pitches brighten flavors, slower tempos deepen richness. I’ve served soup with Chopin in the background and watched the flavors feel warmer; paired citrus with a scherzo and felt the zest sparkle even more.
🧑🍳 Historical Connections: Composers and Cuisine
Some composers were as passionate about food as they were about music.
Gioachino Rossini, world-famous for operas like The Barber of Seville and William Tell, was also a devoted gourmet. Chefs created elaborate dishes in his honor — most famously Tournedos Rossini, filet mignon crowned with foie gras and truffle.
Rossini himself joked that he had wept only three times in his life:
When his first opera failed,
When he heard Paganini play,
And when a truffled turkey fell overboard during a picnic.
His story reminds us that creativity often finds its voice in both music and cuisine.
Pairing: Bach & Sourdough
🎶 Listen: Bach – Prelude in C Major (Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I)
👉 Watch on YouTube
Bach’s Prelude in C Major is built from simple arpeggios. Out of those repeated patterns grows something timeless, luminous, and serene.
In the kitchen, the same is true of sourdough bread. Flour, water, salt, and patience—nothing more. Yet through care and time, it transforms into something fragrant, nourishing, and full of life.
Scales become poetry; dough becomes bread.
Both remind us that mastery begins with the basics, practiced with devotion.