<< -- 3 -- Gordon Rumson I'VE GOT THE MUSIC IN ME ...
Sadly though, I have also seen and heard the successful lament their
situation. One world famous pianist sadly told me that he had slept in his
own bed but half of of the previous year. The constant touring was a burden
to him. Yet there are many pianists who think they ought to be touring and
this pianist shouldn't be.
For the many musicians who do not attain their dreams of glory, reliving
the triumphs of Liszt, Rubinstein and Paderewski, their retreat into obscurity
is clouded by a developed pomposity of manner. They know and are
happy to tell anyone all that they know. They critique, self promote and
puff themselves up until they well nigh burst.
Around them, the non-musicians must view this with some degree of confusion.
Why are they acting like this? What is going on here?
I rather believe that the regular folk have a subconscious awareness
of this weakness in the mentation of musicians. I rather think that this
causes a certain distrust of the musician's basic capacity to evaluate reality
sanely. I rather believe that most people think musicians a little off-balanced.
'Artistic temperament' is the polite term.
As long as musicians suffer from this, insofar as they do, they are also
likely to split off into mutually exclusive groups, and rather than together
work for music, work against each other to the detriment of a musical culture.
In a small town in British Columbia, there are two violin teachers. They
neither speak to each other, nor allow their students to speak to each other.
What madness is this? Can you find examples of this in other parts of the
world?
With the declining fortunes of orchestras and slumping classical recordings
sales the situation is perilous. But I believe that if we work together
we can save the day. We need to work in harmony. Is that not what music
is claimed to be? Is that not what music claims to do? When will musicians
heed the evidence of their own ears and say instead 'We've got the music
in us. Let us sing for the tuning of the world.'
Copyright © 25 October 2002
Gordon Rumson, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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