From our agony aunt’s mailbag:
Dear Alma,
I don’t want to make music any more.
I go up on stage every day, tune up with my colleagues, look out into the festival audience – and don’t want to play.
The world is going to hell in a handcart. Friends in Israel and Iran are cowering under a shower of bomb fragments. Ukraine goes from bad to worse. Nobody talks about the genocide in Sudan. And I am supposed to be up here for the next couple of months amusing a crowd of middle-class people who have come to picturesque festival to ease their existential stress.
I don’t want to do it. I can’t do it.
What else should I be doing?
Anguished viola
Dear Anguished viola,
Yes. I can see that you have lost your way, your purpose. You feel as if your life is being lived in a trivial manner, you are simply light entertainment for people with little ability to care for the suffering of others, and you see yourself reflected in their shallowness and insensitivity.
I urge you to follow the deeper thoughts you have shared with me above. You care for people in pain, and those who need help. And you, my anguished violist, are absolutely a person who is in a position to help. Do not be afraid to step out of your cozy life and to reach out.
If you do not have a personal history of volunteerism or perhaps a fear of trying something bold and new, start small. There is no harm in staying with your current job and volunteering at your local public schools or youth orchestras, offering free lessons, or whatever they may need.
I have often found that classical music and musicians can become wrapped up into the self-importance of their lives, and lose the connection with the world at large. You don’t have to do this. In every place I have lived, I have made the effort to reach out, using music as my calling card. From helping refugees, to crafting music therapy programs for homes for abused children, to bringing music for those in hospice care. And all of my efforts have enriched my life immeasurably; giving back means giving to yourself as well.
And, if your bravery increases, take inspiration from the musicians who are digging in, such as what the Kanneh-Mason family is doing in Antigua and Barbuda.
Your day job can be just that. Your day job. And your strength as a caring, empathetic musician can be your mission. Don’t give up, dig in.
Questions for Alma? Please put them in the comments section or send to DearAlmaQuery@gmail.com
The post Dear Alma, I don’t want to make music any more appeared first on Slippedisc.
