A few years ago I read a wonderful speech given to parents of incoming students at Boston Conservatory by Dr. Karl Paulnack, Director of the Conservatory's Music Division. Among other things, he says:I have come to understand that music is not part of "arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. It's not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time.
Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can't with our minds.These words are even more important for us now than they were six years ago when Dr. Paulnack uttered them.
It takes five minutes to read the entire speech. Here is the complete text, on the Boston Conservatory website
And here is the career bio of this amazing musician.
Click here to download a formatted three-page printable copy (pdf).
No comments:
Post a Comment