Letter to a Young Musician

I recently wrote this to a gifted young musician:

First, I want to thank you for playing the Bach with us, playing in the orchestra, playing the postlude, for everything you do for the music here at Grace First.

Second, I want to say again how thrilled I am watching and hearing you become such a consummate musician. It's truly a joy to be around you and hear the work you are doing.

Finally, I've been thinking about something you said after the concert. I complimented you on our playing, and your first response was "I missed a lot of notes." Your comment (and a friend asking me this morning "what did you enjoy most about the concert?") got me thinking about why we get involved in music in the first place. (This might get long-winded, and I apologize in advance... I do that sometimes. :-)

My answer to my friend was two-fold. First, I told him that we musicians have all had that experience when everything 'clicks.' It's in tune, it's together, the timing is right, the musicianship can soar,... and when all of that happens, the distractions melt away, and we find ourselves in a place that is almost as close as we can come to touching our true souls, our true selves. It's in these moments that I think God is clearest to us, as musicians, and is why music plays such a central role in worship. And once we've been there once, it's like an addiction. We strive over and over again to recreate that moment - we are constantly working to improve our technique so that we can come closer to finding that feeling, every single time.

The second part of my answer to my friend is that the 'addiction' can be just as dangerous as any other addiction - we become so addicted to finding the technical purity that we lose the most important part of the equation: the unbridled joy that we feel making music. (Let's be honest: making good music is fun.) I know a lot of musicians who are so wrapped up in the pursuit of perfection that they lose the joy along the way. And as a result, they never really attain the perfection, because half of the equation for perfection in music is in releasing all of your inhibitions and just allowing the joy to take over!

OK - so enough metaphysical hoi-polloi. Here's my point: you are a technically superior musician for your age, by anybodies standards. You will only get better on that front. But let go of the idea that every note has to be perfectly in it's place for perfection to occur. Close your eyes more when you play. Learn the music by heart. (Isn't that a great thought? Learn the music by heart.) Enjoy the sounds, live in the vibrations of strings and learn that music - like life - is full of notes that are in tune, and notes that are slightly out of tune. And when you embrace that and find joy in creating music that is in that place, you will no longer be a violinist or a musician...

...you will have become an artist.

I know you will become just that, and I'm thrilled to hear what you will do in the years to come.

Merry Christmas, my friend,
Stan