Kicking the Caviar Habit

A couple weeks ago I had a fascinating conversation with a man named Markand Thakar. Markand is the Music Director for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, as well as a co-director of graduate level conducting at the Peabody Conservatory of music. He was in Wichita as a guest conductor for the Wichita Symphony, and he was my captive audience for an hour long car ride to and from a radio interview. I learned a lot about his family, his background and in turn I divulged a little about myself. He said something about music, though, that I feel I already knew yet had never heard put quite so simply and accurately.

The gem: Music has two functions. One, to facilitate reflection and/or meditation on one's own life, or two, to connect us the world.

It was so simple, yet so profound in my mind. Too often classical music's defined function in society is "culture". Yes, music is culture, but culture for the sake of culture is useless. Aspects of culture survive because they reflect upon those the culture represents. This could explain why the concept of classical music is seemingly lost on a generation of music lovers- what part of them is reflected by classical music? When I ask this question, the typical response is more or less "nothing".

Ooooohhhhh how I wish they knew it wasn't the case, but who can blame them? Classical music has been embodied as the caviar of musical tastes only to be enjoyed by the elite, and really for no other self-gain than to say, "Yes, yes, I went to the Symphony last weekend and it was absolutely spleeendid." It's all of a sudden something that boosts your social stature rather than your sense of self and sense of what is all around us. As a 23 year old cellist from Kansas, whenever I share my occupation it never fails that I am told how wonderful that is- it's cool to be the cellist walking around with a big blue case. But when I ask them if they've been to a concert, 9 times out of 10 they will say, "No, that's not really my thing."

I know the picture in their head- 1,000 senior citizens gathered in concert hall, dozing off for an afternoon nap. I wish so badly they knew the picture in my head when I play. The pictures of loved ones; images of dreams; stories of history. The music serves the exact functions Markand explained to me. Here's an example.

This past concert season the orchestra I'm in performed Sibelius' 5th Symphony. I had never heard the work and frankly was not too terribly excited to play it. I did my homework and did my practicing- found out that parts of the piece were based on WWI and its horrors, and then randomly the last movement's theme was based on swans- weird. I listened to recordings on Youtube and thought okay, this sounds cool but there was no connection right away. About 3 days into rehearsal we were going over this "swan theme"- Now according to Markand, when you pinpoint something for a listener to listen for or think about, you take away music's highest potential. So, disregarding imagining swans flying around in my head, I let my mind wonder.

Have you ever had a dream where you tried to run but you couldn't? You were giving all you could to move but it just wouldn't work? Now, have you ever had a dream in which you could leap 20 feet with every bound? Knowing the feeling of not being able to move, having this second dream feels absolutely wonderful. You feel free and able to do anything, and I found myself imagining this feeling when I played. Having this feeling and this image in mind when I performed made me feel weightless. The music threw me back into this euphoric state where I felt like I could literally do anything.

This is what we must convey. Classical music is not caviar- it's moist, chocolate cake full of rich textures and enjoyable for everyone. Once this generation feels that classical music can tap into their most wonderful thoughts, that's when we can stop worrying about whether classical music still holds value in today's society. To wrap up my point, I encourage you all to watch this video with Benjamin Zander, conductor of the Boston Philharmonic. His energy is contagious, and I think you'll be hard-pressed to hold onto any hardened feelings you may have for classical music.

Love Always,

Gnarleigh