Mute Rage
In the wake of horrifying violence both physical, political, and metaphysical, I find myself numb. Filled with rage but somehow mute. Finding inspiration is near impossible. As a musician it’s overwhelming to try to express these emotions, to find meaning and still make it beautiful. The task is too much.
The disinformation machine has polarized us to the brink of civil war. I never thought I’d say that. But the evidence is all too real.
So I will try to get outside my own head, outside my comfort zone outside anyone’s expectations. And I ask that you do too. They say music is the true healer, the one thing that can bring people together. I still believe that. In order to so though, you have to listen. The famous quote from Leonard Bernstein applies now more than ever.
“This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”
I found some inspiration in the story of Tyshawn Sorey. An uncompromising composer creating something new from the dissonance of life. I’m sorry I was ignorant of him and his work. Some may want sweet soothing comfort. That seems to me a comfort we can no longer afford. I ask you to get out of your comfort zone and find something new.
Here are two recent pieces from the New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/01/arts/music/tyshawn-sorey-music.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/magazine/tyshawn-sorey.html