A friend of mine and fellow musician sent this article to me through Facebook and I couldn't get over the power of it.  It helped me understand just why it is that I love music so much and also reinforced the relevance of Bobby's "Real Good-Feel Good" playlist.   If you have a few minutes, I highly recommend you read on...

-Greg

This essay by Karl Paulnack, the Music Department head at Boston Conservatory, is based on his speech to incoming freshmen.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of my parents’ deepest fears, I suspect, is that society would not properly value me as a musician, that I wouldn’t be appreciated. I had very good grades in high school, I was good in science and math, and they imagined that as a doctor or a research chemist or an engineer, I might be more appreciated than I would be as a musician. I still remember my mother’s remark when I announced my decision to apply to music school—she said, “you’re WASTING your SAT scores.” On some level, I think, my parents were not sure themselves what the value of music was, what its purpose was. And they LOVED music, they listened to classical music all the time. They just weren’t really clear about its function. So let me talk about that a little bit, because we live in a society that puts music in the “arts and entertainment” section of the newspaper, and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with entertainment, in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment. Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works.

The first people to understand how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you; the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us. Let me give you some examples of how this works.

This time in our nation's history isn't an easy one, but one we WILL get through.  But will our relationships?  Are you and your husband or wife wondering how it's possible that you're working harder just to try and stay in place and keep from falling behind?  My wife, Kim and I sure are.  But it's more than just finances, it's affecting our marriage, too... 

When was the last time you heard ANYTHING positive regarding the banking industry?
      
Yeah, me too.  Until last week...

The assignment was to draw a picture of Mommy or Daddy at their workplace...

The embarassed mother's explanation is actually quite funny.  Click the Read More link below...

Yeah, me either, until 2 weeks ago when the most excruciating headache EVER along with a 103 degree fever sent me to the emergency room...

Took the dog out for a walk after dark last night.  There was a nice breeze and we ran into this HUGE frog!

Truthfully, it must work, otherwise politicians wouldn't do it year after year.  But I and it seems everyone I know wish it didn't have to be that way.  Who can you trust?  The candidates themselves surely aren't going to tell us the truth about their opponents.  Maybe you side with some of your friends or co-workers opinions (even though they can't remember when your birthday is or what they did last weekend, they're probably credible on the issues right)?  How about your boss, your mother, your pastor...what are they saying?  Everybody has an opinion and some seem to be working their own spin to get me to side with them, like being back on the playground in 3rd grade..."C'mon, just try it...all the cool kids are doing it."

I had an epiphane when I was out walking the dog tonight.  The sunset was beautiful but my mind was racing...