- - Please visit: Legacy Horn Experience - -We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.
In just about any relationship there is give and take and this quote from Winston Churchill is a good reminder of that.
While our work may bring home the bacon, it is the bigger picture – the shared human experience – that gives our lives meaning and perspective. By giving to others our time, patience, knowledge, money or labor, we not only elevate ourselves, we raise the bar on humanity and the greater good.
(This is one big reason, for example, why I enjoy playing music and working on this web site.)
In the music business it certainly helps to remind ourselves of the greater cause. It is generosity that gives our musical lives the value and worth to keep moving ahead – even in down times when things may look very dark and bleak.
At the Bassoon Blog, Betsy Sturdevant of the Columbus Symphony brings an interesting perspective to this discussion:
The ancient Greeks took it upon themselves to explain how music works. They proclaimed that music was about relationships among invisible, internal, hidden parts of human hearts and souls. Music moved those parts around until the positions were “right.”
…The first time I ever became consciously aware of the effect of live classical music was when I was 8 years old playing in my school’s marching tonette band. (A tonette is a plastic recorder-like instrument for children.) I recall the thrill of the experience- it was almost as if an electrical spine-tingling charge surged through my body- as we marched through the center aisle of my school’s auditorium during an assembly.
Visceral memories and feelings like these are a basic connection; this is what really matters, far and above the money or strife.
I would point out that if anyone knows about generosity in the face of great adversity, it would be a Columbus Symphony Orchestra musician.
