Musicians Save Lives

From an address to Freshmen at Boston Conservatory:


"Given what we have since learned about life in the concentration camps, why would anyone in his right mind waste time and energy writing or playing music? There was barely enough energy on a good day to find food and water, to avoid a beating, to stay warm, to escape torture-why would anyone bother with music? And yet-from the camps, we have poetry, we have music, we have visual art; it wasn’t just this one fanatic Messiaen; many, many people created art. Why? Well, in a place where people are only focused on survival, on the bare necessities, the obvious conclusion is that art must be, somehow, essential for life. ”

I sometimes wonder how my life might have been had I been a music major. I know why I wasn't - parents said it didn't pay, the idea that I would be a 6th grade band director for the rest of my life scared me, and I sure didn't think I was nearly a good enough player to go that route. So instead I got my computer science degree and decided to be an 'amatuer' musician.

What's funny is that in taking this 'amateur' route to being a musician, I've ended up being a far better, more dedicated musician than I would have ever dreamed. In college, music was my past time, my passion. I played in lots of ensembles and loved it. I had started to play guitar my senior year in high school and through UTEP was able to take jazz lessons, classical lessons. I ran music at my church. I did all these things without being 'a real musician'.

Now, the working world has been less kind to me as an 'amatuer'. That's been hard. You work 40+ hours a week, add some travel, move around some, and its hard to re-establish yourself. That's been the part I've failed at. Part of starting this blog was to push myself to play more, to keep up my fading skills - that if I had an outlet then I would do better. Its still always a battle.

But at least I still play. So many folks that I knew in high school and college that were good players - some of them the best players - so few of them even touch their instruments anymore, and I think that's sad.

So, when I pick up my guitar today, and I think about what might have been I will remember that I practice my art to save a life, and that life may be my own.