I’m thinking more about yesterday’s RSO youth concert- and all of the signs around us that too many people (and especially young people, although by no means is this an attitude unknown to young and old alike) think of music not as something to create and experience as a participant- but something merely to be consumed, to have piped into your ears from outside. . . almost like another form of electricity. This is obviously a very foreign notion to me, since I spend nearly every moment of my waking life either making music or helping others to make music. But I know that way too many people can end up with a very disembodied sense of where music comes from- especially when a fair amount of pop music is so extensively manipulated in the studio that the human hands responsible for it can be completely obscured. If there’s one thing which makes classical music tremendously valuable, it’s that it tends to be very human and hands-on. . . and when you see an orchestra in action right before your eye – or for that matter, a singer and pianist – you realize in a whole new way that music comes from people, and that’s one of the most exciting things about it.
I’m about to say something which I know will shock my brother-in-law Mark (I hope he doesn’t bump his head when he falls to the floor in a dead faint) but as I am thinking about this subject, I am forced to concede that programs like American Idol and Glee – two shows I am quick to criticize, and I think with very good reason – have a value that I have not properly acknowledged or appreciated. Here are two shows which are getting young people very excited about music- and more important than that, excited at the prospect of making music. And in this day and age, that is something not to be taken for granted, especially at a moment when too many school music programs are perched precariously on a bubble in danger of bursting. As someone who has always loved music and being a musician- for whom music is as essential as oxygen, and for whom making music is as basic as breathing – I should be more receptive to shows like this that rub me wrong and yet are connecting powerfully to millions of young people and perhaps getting them to think of themselves as potential musicians.
What excites me more, however, is when I think about events like the recently completed Solo & Ensemble competitions in Kenosha and Racine. While it was so thrilling for me to hear wonderful performances from some of my accomplished private students, the most exciting moments for me didn’t come from Mike and Jacob and Nicholas and the like- but from really young, really scared, but really determined youngsters who got up there and sang. And it was especially fun for me to watch my sister-in-law Polly judge a number of such singers in Racine. I was so impressed with the energy and focus with which she undertook the task- from 8:20 in the morning, when I first watched her judge – to 3:30 that afternoon, when I watched her for the last time. I am sure that not for a single moment all day long did Polly go through the motions- or convey the attitude of some judges, that they are doing you a favor by being there to hear you. Polly is the consummate pro who acts like she is privileged to be there hearing what these young musicians can do- and I think she really believes that. And when someone shy middle school girl gets up there and pipes their way through a song that I’m sure Polly has had a thousand times before- and probably sung a whole lot more impressively – she finds just the right words to tell that young singer how pleased she is with what they’ve done- and how proud she is of them for taking that huge step from audience member to performer. And I hope she won’t mind me relaying a very touching moment when a middle school singer finished her performer and Polly said something to the effect that in twenty years of judging, this was perhaps the first time she had ever found herself verklempt . . . because this youngster had sung so bravely. And it underscored what not enough people know- that for as nice as it is to be a recipient of music, it is so delightful to be a “giver” of it – a “maker” of it – as well.
Which oddly enough, brings to mind Bishop Barrow’s installation service and an odd sight which drew remarks from quite a few people. The vast majority of people gathered for that celebration, were participating in every sense of the word – and when we were joining together on the hymns, it felt like the roof was going to lift right off of the place. But right down front, seated not far from Bishop Barrow, was a very honored guest who sat there for the entire service without uttering a word – or singing a single note of music. This may have been a very very important man, but I know at least one middle school second soprano who knows something he doesn’t know- that God gave us the gift of music not so we could sit passively in the audience as lazy consumers of it. . . but to embrace it and be part of it and to even create a bit of it ourselves. . . whether you’re a well-trained baritone who has sung on the stage of the Lyric Opera of Chicago next to Placido Domingo . . . or a middle schooler who scrapes up the courage to stand in front of a judge, family, and peers and sing a song. That honored guest could learn something from her- and from Ben Larson, the young seminary student who was killed in the Haiti earthquake. Ben spent his last moments – and his last breaths – singing. Under the rubble. As death drew near. He was singing.
He’s my hero.