I was a fearful child, so much so that a parent or substitute would have to do a pre-lights-out sweep of my bedroom to make sure there were no monsters under my bed or spooks in my closet. I often worry that I am a fearful adult, too.
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
I’m still afraid of the dark, you see — a different kind of dark.
It is not the Grim Reaper or some sort of ghost; it is Rob and Doug Ford, the would-be Remus and Romulus of a city I would not want to live in.
There have always been and always will be Fords in our world — individuals representing the worst of self-interest, self-indulgence and survival of the strongest. So much of modern (and some ancient) history has been about people overcoming these traits through awareness and compassion of the other, of engaging in dialogue, of working at social and economic compacts that recognize the humanity of the weak as equal to that of the strong.
The fact that people like the Fords can enjoy the support of more than a third of a big, modern city’s population points to something fundamentally wrong with our society.
“I like Ford,” said a smiling person to the TV cameras yesterday — one of thousands of people who stood for hours in a queue circling Toronto City Hall so they could get a bobblehead signed by Rob Ford. “He’s genuine, and he saves me money,” this person continued.
In Ford’s Toronto, we are not citizens but taxpayers; government is not about common welfare but getting by as cheaply as possible. It is about utility, efficiency and, well, who cares about rules. Those are for other people. The genuine is fake — as fake as the purported savings.
How have we come to be in this world that we might recognize from the pages of writers like George Orwell?
Ooh. There go those chills again.
But I want to talk about music and art.
For years now, music has been debasing itself with the utilitarian arguments of business and science. Is there a week that goes by that we don’t hear about the economic and neurological benefits of making and listening to music?
We know, as the ancient Greeks and their Orpheus knew nearly three millennia ago, that music is good for us. Trying to prove this over and over again isn’t going to change anything. But reminding ourselves and everyone around us that music is art, and that art is not ordinary and everyday, might just change everything.
If art is utilitarian, then we are reluctant taxpayers. If we are part of making and consuming something that wants to be greater than the subway at rush hour, we may also want to aspire to become engaged citizens.
I can’t think of a more potent visual symbol of this than the now-famous picture from earlier this month of the piano-seated protester in Kiev.
As I pulled together the best happenings, concerts, operas and recordings of the year, I was reminded over and over again how much greater the best art — musical or otherwise — is than its best ingredients. It reminds us of our mortality as well as connecting us to the immortal. It soothes our daily irritations and joins us in dancing for joy.
How can it be that imperfect people — that would be all of us — can so often create something so seemingly flawless?
That’s the inspiration that helps me out of bed every morning. And that’s the inspiration that our children need to experience in the act of making music themselves — in joy rather than in obligation, if that’s at all possible.
My last post 2013 was originally going to be a remembrance of the great musical faces, voices and hands we lost in 2013. I went down the list of Canadians and Torontonians and realised that, no matter how fine their art was, what made them truly special, truly wonderful and truly worth remembering, was how they needed to share with others in order to make their art complete.
Sharing. What a powerful concept in the let’s-find-efficiencies Toronto of 2013.
So, as we remember Lynn Blaser and Larry Lake, Nic Gotham and Lotfi Mansouri, Washington McClain and Mario Bernardi, Janos Starker and John Kraglund — all people who gave so much of themselves unstintingly — let’s also remember and encourage and support the hundreds of people in our schools, community centres, music studios, homes and concert halls who cannot conceive of a world without fine music, and are not shy to share that passion with young and old alike.
The thing is, music is not just inspiration; it is aspiration. It makes us want to be better than we are.
John Terauds
- Classical Music 101: What Does A Conductor Do? - June 17, 2019
- Classical Music 101 | What Does Period Instrument Mean? - May 6, 2019
- CLASSICAL MUSIC 101 | What Does It Mean To Be In Tune? - April 23, 2019
