Vessel

Tonight's performance by our guest pianist was exquisite--his first encore almost brought me to tears. Music has the power to manipulate emotions, but it is so rare to have such an experience as the one created tonight. Too often musicians become mere technicians, looking for perfection instead of transport. When a musician is able to subjugate his/her ego to the composer and to the muse, magic takes place--the music flows through the instrument, pulling the listeners out of themselves, into that abstract world of texture, color, emotion, structure.
This ideal of making oneself a servant to the music brings to mind the teachings of Jesus, once so central to my life. The idea of giving up what one desires for the service of God parallels the idea of making music to serve the music itself, and not for one's own glory, or even for the very real pleasure that can be gotten from achieving technical clarity. I have often noticed in my own practicing and in teaching that a difficult passage becomes much easier when you approach the difficulty from a musical perspective rather than technical. The music carries the technique.
Leadership also falls under this philosophy. When leaders seek to lead in order to bring themselves more power instead of to lift up those that follow, disaster and greed and cruelty are the inevitable results. (One needs only to observe the current administration to validate this. Bush's desire to make himself look good, with what seems to be little regard for the people who are suffering, results in failed policy. Not that Republicans are the only power-hungry politicians out there. I guess we'll be unlikely to see Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith in Washington any time soon.) In a musical group, egos can easily get in the way, and having "my way" becomes more important than what is better for the group, which leads to discord.