Music…

I was asked a few questions about music.  I thought I'd share my thoughts...

1. Has music always played a major role in your life? Why?
   Music has always been a major part of my life. I was scuplted by a mother who wanted the best for her child. She used music as a way to keep me engaged in positve activities. She knew if I was practicing, I was not involved in activities not becoming of a youth. As I become more fluent, the music became self motivating. At age 12, I was hired by a church in my home town to be the organist on sundays. So, It became a source of income. I dedicated hours a day since my middle school years to the betterment of my talent. It provided means to attend the University trough scholarships and continues to be at the heart of almost everything I do.
   
   
2. How were you introduced to music?
   I began playing the piano at age 7. My mother says 6 but I don't believe her recollection to be accurate. I had a piano teacher named Ernie Hall. He didn't think I would amount to much musically so he quit me. My mother searched out another teacher in a small town, finding an unlikely source, a 4^th grade elemenatry teacher. I was his only student, and we developed a relationship that bonded us for years.
   
   
3. Were your parents musically inclined?

My Father claimed to be tone deaf. He couldn't carry a tune and didn't really seek after musical experiences. He was a great supporter of my efforts, however. My greatest pleasure came when afte years of knowing he really didn't like classical music, to have him come into the room and request certain songs. The more I studied, the more I would notice him listening. My mother had a great gift of art in her life. She played one song on the piano, but her gift was in seeing the light that is embeeded in all things. She recognized greatness in its infancy always.

4. Do you believe that the type of music we listen to will dictate how we live our lives? Why?

I do not believe “types” of music dictate how we live our lives. I do believe that the elements of music do have an effect on our beings. Rhythm, melody, time and space all play an import part in our inner beings. There are elements in the brain that are triggered by these physical experiences. We tend to gravitate to certain types of music. Perhaps it is our brain calling for stimulus for growth. I don't know for certain, but I am reluctant to attribute any one type of music to a good or bad category. I do believe in a spiritual aspect of music. The spirtual realm may be to personal for this questionaire, but I believe that the soul of a being is in tune with truth. When truth is presented in any form, including music in all of its varied forms, that the human spirit recognizes that truth and brings an increase to ones spiritual innerself.

5. What is it about music that has helped you become the person you are today?
   Music has allowed me to develop discipline. The structure of my life, knowing that diligent pursuit in small defined steps will lead to large accomplishments.
   
   
6. Do you believe that the music programs in our schools should be cut because of budget constraints? Why or why not?
   
   
   I am not decided on the budget constraints of music programs in schools. I see the advantage of programs that provide opportunities to youth. These programs have benefited my family to a degree, but in the same breath that I say that, they have also compromised the musical education of my family. Too often, music programs create an elitism attitude that has a poloarizing effect on students. I would like to see more balance in the programs. Often, there is one star, and the rest fall into a support group of that individual. Choices between a balanced life are force upon these students. i.e. music vs sports. I have had children faced with the decision of play basketball of play in ensembles. I have had children have to forfeit gym in order to be a part of the orchestra. I don't believe the balance has been achieved, and because of this, when the majority are asked how important is the music program in school, it is often considered to be cut. If the program could blend a wider community of students, then its future would be guarenteed. Also, on a personal note, I played for the high school choir as a student because I was the only one who could play. It was easy, but I never learned to sing because I was always playing. There is no place in most school programs for pianists.
   
   
7. Do you believe that music is therapeutic in the lives of those who have had trauma, dementia, mental illnesses, etc.? How so?
   I believe music has many abilities beyond what we understand. Music and its interaction with the braiin is a very interesting science. I think it is important to understand that the use of music in trauma, dementia, mental illness, is only as useful as the acceptance and embodiment of music in the life prior to these conditions. For someone who has no connection to music, the use of music as a therapy would have little avail. I look to my father as an example. To sing songs, play music, etc. while experiencing the final illnesses of life would have been for naught; however, my mother, on the other hand, as she experienced the final illnesses of her life was in love with the arts, and the arts brought her much comfort and peace.
   
   
8. Who is your favorite composer and why?
   My favoite composer changes life event to life event. I suppose today I fancy Bartok for his intriguing melodies and use of rhtyhm. There are others, and I believe it is there ability to capture a musical moment and fix it into a constant that is available at my will.
   
   
9. I know that you have written many musical compositions in your life, but is there one over the others, that is your absolute favorite? Why? What did you experience when writing this piece of music? Your feelings? How has this particular piece helped you become the man you are today?
   I have written many pieces. I love the process of capturing ideas. My favorites will never be known, because they are moments of improvisation that happen while I'm at the piano. They come and go and are never heard again. There were times I played for my kids, painting pictures with sound. Fire, earthquakes, moments of delight. Speed, fury, Thses moments are a part of me, but my mind doesn't recall them. The compositions that I fix to paper are far less dramatic because of the element of stopping to write them down. It I try to write a piece in my mind, it to is limited by what my brain can recall. There is an element that comes into the creation of music. I call it the “better than I could have imagined it” element. I wrote it down in detail once, but I can't put my finger on it today.  Ah, I found it…
   
   
   

   If I can imagine it, it's not creative enough! That is the thought that is going through my head today and I wanted to capture before it left and I spent another epoch of time searching for it. It is the statement that gives me power. It brings light to the statement, "I could never paint a painting, or compose a piece of music like that.". It's true, I can't I magine it, but I know that there is more creative power than just the imagination. I know when I place my fingers on the keyboard of a piano, that there is another portion of my soul that comes alive. I don't hear it, I don't see it, but it is there. My fingers move in directions that I never imagined. So, the creative process is tied to every fiber of my being coming together. The imagination is just one part of an unknown number of elements. I have always emphasized to those that would listen, that composition begins where improvisation ends.

   
   

   Many times, new composers will come to me with their compositions stored in their minds. I find that process limiting. In fact, we place mental restrictions because the mind cannot hold all that we are capable of creating. As my students write down their compositions, they free the mind of its limiting bounds and the creation process unfolds to greater depths, moving past the imagination.  
   
   
10. What is your favorite type of music to listen to and why?
    Not country. No, that is just a joke. I like listening to many types of music. What makes it enjoyable to me is the interpretation and life that is brought to it by the presenter. I've heard masterpieces played flawlessly and they have bored me to sleep, and I've heard simple songs, that have fallen upon my soul by their delivery that move me as only certain things can.

I've enjoyed these questions. I am sorry they are so late in coming to you.

Have a merry Christmas.

John