Passion

         I came in to this class with the knowledge that passion is the most important element of my life as a musician.  What I had chosen to ignore however, was the fact that playing our instruments and perfecting our crafts is only a small part of the equation.  Our careers depend on so much more, from education to performance, from finding audiences to venues, there are so many elements that I had chosen not to think about because somewhere, I feared that facing these issues would lead to the realization that maybe classical music isn’t so relevant anymore.  But what I’ve gained from this class, and what I’ve found most inspiring, has been to discover that all of us have dreams and are looking for ways in which to make them reality.  Looking back on the first few weeks of class and our initial discussions, I feel like many of us felt uncertain about the future of classical music, and therefore of our own fates in this world.  Whether our outlooks were optimistic or defeatist, it didn’t seem as though we had much of an idea as to how to tackle the obstacles that lay ahead of us.  

Of course, I can only speak for myself when I say that I had my head buried in the sand, ignoring the very real issues that concern us all directly, and focused on my violin with the blind faith that things would somehow just work out.  But now, having gone through the process of analyzing the reasons why classical music has fallen out of popular culture, and having an understanding of the way concerts used to be performed, I feel more prepared and even more excited about my choice to be a musician.  Music, for me, has always been a means to communicate with people, and having an audience is therefore necessary for music to come alive.            I know that we haven’t found the perfect answers to our concerns, but we’ve uncovered a variety of possibilities and I see in all of us the potential and the desire to turn our ideas into realities.  I thank you all for giving me direction, a deeper understanding of what needs to be done, and showing me that passion is still the most important component of what we do.  Isaiah, I’d like to thank you for guiding us in this process, for giving us a forum on which to contribute our thoughts regularly, as well as for giving us the opportunity to benefit other musicians, musical groups and causes that we each feel passionate about through our Wikipedia articles.  

         Farewell, and cheers to the future of classical music!