Food For The Soul

This past Sunday, Caroline and I performed in our last concert of the season with the Georgia Wind Symphony.  GWS is made up of music educators from around the state with some regular old people like us thrown in to keep the group humble.  I have talked about our relationship to the conductor in past posts.  David Gregory was our high school band director in Columbus.  We have remained friends and are now playing under his direction again.  The whole idea of a bunch of  people getting together to make music is very special.  First of all, each member has a skill.  Some more than others, but we wouldn’t be there if we couldn’t make a sound with our instruments.  Second there is desire.  People have to want to volunteer their time to get to rehearsal and prepare their parts.  And then you need a leader – someone to instruct, create and inspire.  Next, there is the audience.  In this case mostly family and friends who have some stake in the people on stage, but their attendance and reaction is immediate feedback to the work of the members.  While you can always go back and listen to a recording of the concert, there is nothing like being there during the creation.   For after the note is sounded, it is then gone.  But the anticipation of what might come next is the magic of music – and music is a good mirror of other good things worth working for.