If I made a Top-10 list of the things that make me feel good, somewhere near the top would be playing a good concert. Tonight was the first NEC concert of the year, and mm it felt good. First of all, Jordan Hall was literally full to the brim...I counted maybe five or six empty seats. Second of all, it was like a football stadium, with all the cheering and roaring, even before we played a note. But most of all, the energy generated in each piece was so tangible and present, like a ball of fire, coming from the players and being spread to every corner of the hall, and bouncing off the audience back to us. It's a kind of energy you only get from the "youth" orchestras...this sort of wide-eyed, passionate, sometimes even overzealous enthusiasm and eagerness to share the music. I like to look around when I'm playing in orchestra, and these are some of my favorite snapshot moments: a man in the front row with his eyes closed and a smile stretching across his face the entire time; the kid next to him with a huge afro nodding along to the music as if it were rap or heavy metal, staring up at the stage; a wave of string players with their faces and bodies moving to the whirlwind of sound; and little smiles between stand partners.
They say musicians make the best lovers; I'd flip it around and say lovers make the best musicians. You treat the music you're making like you would treat a lover...with tenderness, passion, spontaneity, patience, and commitment. If you're a person who is capable of loving with all your heart, it will shine through in the music you make.
Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself how amazing it is to be able to produce sound. I've been playing violin for so long, it's easy to take this luxury for granted, but just think--with your two hands, you can create a medium of expression that encapsulates ideas that have spanned centuries. Out of your instrument can come sounds that draw the darkest secrets and strongest feelings from deep within a listener's mind. And into your instrument can pour all the emotions and experiences that have been stored in your body after a lifetime of living...it's a miracle, really, if you think about it.
If, by divine will, I am able to do such a thing for the rest of my life...well, I pray I will never ever take it for granted.
