7.10.2004
words of wisdom
I am currently at Tanglewood in Western Massachusetts to sing Wynton Marsalis' All Rise with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It's been a heck of a week with a doubtlessly talented but also frustrating conductor and wonderful but long rehearsals. This afternoon, Mr. Marsalis hiimself came to talk with the chorus about his piece. I am a very poor storyteller and have quite a failing memory sometimes. I will attempt, to the best of my ability, to paraphrase some of what he said.
He said that more than anything else, music had to have a humanity about it. Without that humanity, the craft of music is nothing. If in doubt, sacrifice a little bit of the craft to bring out the humanity of the music. The same, he said, goes for just about anything else. Everything has a rhythm, whether it is Gregorian Chant or Blues or Baroque or Jazz. Find that rhythm, then groove with it. And in all things, imbue what you do with meaning. It takes little skill to play the same notes as Louis Armstrong or speak the same words of Dr. King, but to do so with their meaning and gravitas and art and passion takes much more. It is the meaning more than the notes or words themselves which make what we do important.
It was more than I could have imagined: his piece is beautiful, and it has been recorded by the Los Angeles Symphony and the Lincoln Center Jazz Ensemble. Buy this recording and hear what Marsalis has to say.
He said that more than anything else, music had to have a humanity about it. Without that humanity, the craft of music is nothing. If in doubt, sacrifice a little bit of the craft to bring out the humanity of the music. The same, he said, goes for just about anything else. Everything has a rhythm, whether it is Gregorian Chant or Blues or Baroque or Jazz. Find that rhythm, then groove with it. And in all things, imbue what you do with meaning. It takes little skill to play the same notes as Louis Armstrong or speak the same words of Dr. King, but to do so with their meaning and gravitas and art and passion takes much more. It is the meaning more than the notes or words themselves which make what we do important.
It was more than I could have imagined: his piece is beautiful, and it has been recorded by the Los Angeles Symphony and the Lincoln Center Jazz Ensemble. Buy this recording and hear what Marsalis has to say.
