You think we have it rough now, yes, we do have a challenge. None of us has dealt with a pandemic before, perhaps ever heard the word before. The uncertainty and so many unknowns can freak people out.
Hold on to yourself. Fear and panic are bad places to make decisions from. Right?
Imagine being Peer Gynt, captured by trolls and taken before their king, Dovregubben. Right? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTXNqfUWT5E (Some of Edvard Grieg’s most famous music.)
Remember who you are, who we are. In our regular lives, very few of us live in isolation. Keep contact how you can, it’s important. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSKk-cvblc Ah, Leonard Bernstein, what would he be composing now and Jerome Robbins be choreographing?
Feel your strength, know it. Yeah, it’s there, sometimes we get distracted and forget our spine is flexible and strong. It needs protection yes, yet it protects us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb_9svkhOEE (Listen at least into the second minute. Carter Burwell, born in a great year, has scored many Hollywood movies. This is from Rob Roy; he’s done The Big Lebowksi, No Country for Old Men, Being John Malkovich.)
Remember. So many things, one of which is that whatever each of us does ripples out to others. Be kind, compassionate, respectful. I have to smile at this one, as when I am called to those things, I usually don’t want to! Okay, self-disclosure: I can be a bit righteous and judgmental. I keep working on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK1N46dRPVg (Aaron Copland is in the audience for this performance!)
Andrew Davis, born in a good month, is conducting here. He is an internationally respected conductor and musician. Turn up the volume, raise your arms, welcome it into you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ryHDsQIYJs I will never forget the first time I heard this. (More about that another time…)
Since you are still with me, here goes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMuePyV1nr8
When he gave Emerson, Lake and Palmer permission to arrange and play his magnificent piece, Aaron Copland said he was attracted to what they had done, not sure how what they did in the middle was connected to his music, and then famously chuckled. Keith Emerson regarded Copland as ‘the soul of American music.”
Remember …