Finally, the second part of my series, entitled motivations. This edition is sponsored by Yamaha musical instruments, the University of Maryland School of Music, and the Maryland National Guard. More on these wonderful sponsors later.
Motivations come in different forms and from different areas. If you love music as I do, or even in part, you must go see the movie August Rush. My wife and I saw it the weekend it came out and I must say that it is a moving movie, and will probably be right up there with Mr Holland's Opus as far as motivational musical movies go. One section in particular reminded me of a time when I really did not want to think of music at all.
It was September 12th 2001. The day before was beautiful... a wonderful opportunity to showcase our brand new marching band. We gathered in the band room and, in our band t-shirts, marched to the college coffee gathering at the fountain in front of Alamance, the primary building at Elon. A large crowd was there, and so was the football team, all using the opportunity as sort of a pep rally for our game that Saturday. We showed up, with everyone in high spirits, and announced our presence with our "band song" entitled "Carolina Moon." After this we played the fight song and began to play a cheerful piece like "School's Out" or "Gimmie some Lovin' " or something like that. Then, as we paused to listen to the coach speak to the crowd, we saw something different. Leo got up there instead and stopped the proceedings due to a "terrible accident" in New York. Party over. Life as we knew it, also over. The next day, we gathered during our normal time: 3pm, across the road from the Elon Fire Department. We still had a football game to prepare for. After all, the plaques on the new stadium were already up, and they said September 15th, not 22nd. Even though we were hurting and confused and mad and... everything else, we had a job to do. So we gathered. Dr. D addressed the group before we got going with practice. His words, I do not quite remember, but they went something like this: "I know that we are all hurting. And I don't know about anyone else here, but I'll tell you how I feel. There is no where else I would rather be than here, on this field, doing what we do. No matter what else may happen in this world, if times are good or times are bad, so long as I still have an opportunity to teach and play, I still have my soul. I can still pick up the pieces and carry on."
We didn't play that Saturday, the game was canceled... the last football game in America to be called off. But we were ready if it had been played. The point of the story echos a line in the movie: "Sometimes, when you feel low, music can set you free and make it all better." or something like that. It's a line said when the guy from the band meets the kid in the park and plays with him before the kid's concert, so if someone sees it and wishes to correct me, by all means please do so! But the point is, music speaks to my soul, and playing it makes me feel whole. There is nothing that makes me feel more alive than buzzing my lips together and making a great piece of music sound great when it comes out of the other end of the brass tubing of my instrument. Except perhaps conducting a great piece of music, and seeing the musicians produce a piece of music that speaks to the soul. And after discussing my musical opportunities with my wife, I have decided to pursue a degree in Music education. I can think of no greater motivation than working with young people and assisting them in accomplishing their musical goals, as well as watching them play and grow and learn. I still hope to play where I can, even with the bands I may direct and teach, make no mistake about it. But I am very excited about the possibility of directing and teaching a wind band in middle school, high school, or even on the college level. I can't wait!
