2005: The Year of the Song.
By Barry Rivman
Have you heard the saying, “God is happiest when his children are at play”? Looking over the past year, it might be easy to assume that some of us have been playing a little too rough. We’re all grimly aware of the year’s catastrophic events so we don’t feel the need to belabor them. In fact, we’d prefer not to. It is also said that evil wins when good people do nothing. Does that mean by focusing on music and not on current events that we are allowing evil to flourish?
Perhaps not all of us are in a position jump into the political fray and achieve global change. According to the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Change, the greatest good a person can do is to do no harm. This brings to mind a music professor I once knew who taught in the Master’s program at NYU. Prior to teaching music, he worked for NASA as a computer programmer in the 60’s. When he discovered that the trajectories he was plotting were for nuclear missiles, he left NASA to go into music. He said, and I quote, “This way, nobody gets hurt.” Although his choice did not come without a price, he is far happier as a musician.
Would you say that he gave up doing something important for more trivial pursuits? I guess that depends on how seriously you take music. Let’s go back to the I Ching, which is a book that was written over a period of a thousand years by, and for kings. Here is what it has to say about music:
“From immemorial times the inspiring effect of the invisible sound that moves all hearts, and draws them together, has mystified mankind. Rulers have made use of this natural taste for music; they elevated and regulated it. Music was looked upon as something serious and holy, designed to purify the feelings of men. It fell to music to glorify the virtues of heroes and thus to construct a bridge to the world of the unseen. In the temple men drew near to God with music and pantomimes (out of this later the theater developed).”
The concept of music being elevated and regulated by rulers occurs in our times. These are not just fanciful words. In the 60’s music was seen as the platform by which social change could be effected. During the 70’s, G. Gordon Liddy admitted that the Nixon administration deliberately targeted rock music for that very reason. During the 80’s, Reagan made Springsteen’s “Born In The USA” a patriotic anthem (despite the fact that the song actually protested the economics of the day). Still think that making music is a trivial thing?
Speaking of that music professor who along with being a great teacher was also a brilliant composer. I remember hearing him play one of his compositions on the piano and thinking how sad it was that his music would not be heard. He, on the other hand said that these were the times we lived in and that it was okay with him not to be heard. Here was one instance where I didn’t agree with him. Genius should be heard, even if it isn’t composing in the popular styles of the day. More than that, I think that all of us who compose music want, no, need to be heard at some level. Whether it’s by the masses or by just a few. For the artist, I believe there is something inside of us that needs to get out. Were this not the case, perhaps my music professor friend might have chosen another area within computer programming and kept making the big bucks. He didn’t. He chose music and has never looked back. Does his music get heard? Yes, by every student that is touched by his genius as a teacher. However, thanks to digital technology, his music can be heard in a more immediate fashion. The equipment for realizing music with a sound quality to satisfy any ear has never been more affordable or accessible to anyone who has something to say. Beyond that, there are ways of getting your music out to the public without having to wait for someone else to say yes.
So what is the message for 2005? Well, if God is happiest when his children are at play, let’s play music. Make a change in somebody’s life with your music, even if it’s just your own. We’ll never know the difference our music can make in another’s life; but it can never make any difference if it’s never heard. Let’s play. And remember, when it comes to making and playing music, we’re always here to help.
Happy New Year from the whole inSync gang at Sweetwater.