I had the wonderful opportunity of attending a fireside tonight with Kory Katseanes, the director of the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra. I really felt like it was something I needed right about now, coming up on finals and the end of the semester; feeling burned out, and not really wanting to do much of anything. It was quite inspiring. In his remarks, he shared parts of a welcome address given by Dr. Karl Paulnack, director of the Music Division at the Boston Conservatory. I wanted to share some of Dr. Paulnack's thoughts, and the full address can be found at:
http://www.bostonconservatory.edu/s/940/Bio.aspx?sid=940&gid=1&pgid=1241
(Might I recommend listening to Barber's Adagio for Strings while reading)
"...We live in a society that puts music in the 'arts and entertainment' section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it's the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works. One of the first cultures to articulate how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you: the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us...
"Art is part of survival; art is part of the human spirit, an unquenchable expression of who we are. Art is one of the ways in which we say, 'I am alive, and my life has meaning'...
"I have come to understand that music is not part of "arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. It's not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time. Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can't with our minds...
"If we were a medical school, and you were here as a med student practicing appendectomies, you'd take your work very seriously because you would imagine that some night at two AM someone is going to waltz into your emergency room and you're going to have to save their life. Well, my friends, someday at 8 PM someone is going to walk into your concert hall and bring you a mind that is confused, a heart that is overwhelmed, a soul that is weary. Whether they go out whole again will depend partly on how well you do your craft.
"You're not here to become an entertainer, and you don't have to sell yourself. The truth is you don't have anything to sell; being a musician isn't about dispensing a product, like selling used cars. I'm not an entertainer; I'm a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You're here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.
"Frankly, ladies and gentlemen, I expect you not only to master music; I expect you to save the planet. If there is a future wave of wellness on this planet, of harmony, of peace, of an end to war, of mutual understanding, of equality, of fairness, I don't expect it will come from a government, a military force or a corporation. I no longer even expect it to come from the religions of the world, which together seem to have brought us as much war as they have peace. If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that's what we do."
As you can tell, these are some very powerful statements! As Kory shared these, it brought a special spirit into the room, a feeling of recommitment to practicing, to want to be the very best I can be. The problem is, how do you hold on to these feelings after the moment is gone? When I am weighed down by other classes, and frustrated with my music, how do I regain that feeling that I had tonight?
It reminds me of times on my mission...I would get frustrated on those hot summer days, being frequently rejected with few people to teach. Then we would go to one of our blessed Zone Conferences, where we would meet with the Mission President, and be able to talk to old friends that we hadn't seen for awhile. I would always leave feeling full of the spirit and full of love, ready to talk to anyone and everyone. But then, shortly thereafter, I would find myself again getting frustrated, struggling to hold on to those feelings that I had.
It's like Alma asked, "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" (Alma 5:26) I think that that is one of the biggest struggles we face in life. We have these moments of greatness, moments when nothing is going to stand between us and our goals. Moments when we truly do have a change of heart. Then Satan and the world come along and try to get in our way, and stop us from achieving our true potential. And yet, why should they stop us? Why should they cause us to forget those feelings that we once had? The only people who can decide that is you and me. Yes, it's a battle, and yes it's hard, but "they that be with us are more than they that be with them" (2 Kings 6:16). It is the enduring to the end part of the gospel that is the hardest, but we are promised help.
But I feel that "enduring to the end" applies to more than just the gospel, it applies to music, and to science, and to every worthy pursuit that we have on this earth. President Kimball said in an address at BYU that "I am both hopeful and expectant that out of this university and the Church Educational System there will rise brilliant stars in drama, literature, music, sculpture, painting, science, and in all the scholarly graces. This university can be the refining host for many such individuals who will touch men and women the world over long after they have left this campus." The only way that this is going to happen is if we do endure to the end in our studies, and we don't give up or give half-heartedly to our education. I know that it is something that I've been struggling with lately. But for all of us, there is always room for improvement, always room to do more. And Christ is ALWAYS there to help us and to bless our efforts. All He asks is that we do try our hardest, and we do give it our all. Then, He will help us above any challenges, any discouragements, any frustrations and disappointments that we might have. Then we can continue on the road to greatness, and who knows but that someday, our efforts really will save someone's life, and that we will save the planet?
