Dr. Birky and I were talking about last Sunday’s recital this past Friday. After I described how I develop commentary for concerts to help people come closer to the  music, he said something like “because many people do not understand music” sounding a bit like he was confessing. I contradicted him. I insist that people are already musicians, artists, poets, dancers and so on. I am just trying to open a door to the music and invite people in. Music is a verb and is something we all do.

But admittedly I have many pangs of inadequacy myself. I know that I am not a virtuoso and most of the time don’t identify myself as a classical musician. However, just as I remind myself to be as kind and forgiving with myself as I try to be to others, the same should hold with my musical endeavors however meager they might be on any scale.

More clearly this means that if I think that all (or almost all) humans do music, then I get to be counted in that as well. Maybe this will help me get closer to the music I make. And slow down my nagging doubts about my abilities making more room for drawing into the music. These doubts are only in my emotions, not in  my will or my passion which do not seem to waiver.

Having said that, for you my small  group of readers, I share my listening this morning which came from this article.

Rhythmic Bite: This Week’s 8 Best Classical Music Moments on YouTube – The New York Times

I linked last week’s article like this but haven’t listened to the music in it. This morning I was drawn to this rendition of a Prokofiev piano sonata movement. I love the way this guy plays. I love that he is also a composer. I love the little smile on his face when he finishes. I think he is inside the music.

I confess that I don’t know this piece that Tommasini (the critic who recommends this recording in the article) says he heard at Carnegie Hall when he was in the seventh grade. But I like it. It obviously is paving the way for the Ninth symphony which I also like. As I age, Beethoven means more and more to me. I think it has something to do with the nobility of his music and ignobility of our times.