Words don’t often fail me, I like to write, words often come easy for me. But I must admit this week in preparing for my assignment in the rotation of writers for the Kimmel Center blog, I’ve been more than a bit stymied. I sell concerts for a living, that’s what I do…I write press releases, I call writers and editors, I say this is an important concert, this artist is important, this concert is special, etc. I want my post this week to be more than that. I want it to be other than what my last one was, extolling the virtues of where I work.
I thought a lot about a piece I read recently in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
About a week ago, Peter Dobrin wrote a piece, a “think-piece” essentially, about what meaning music or art has in his life and in the lives of others in times of crisis or difficulty. (“Amid misery, arts still solace the soul” September 20, 2005) We’ve all seen and heard and have been numbed by the scenes of devastation in the south as multiple hurricanes have moved through that part of country, laying waste to people’s lives. It’s been traumatic and overwhelming watching the constant news coverage of how Katrina especially has ruined so many lives, in some cases brought out the worst in people, caused eruptions of distinctions of social class, and has caused by turn various failures and successes of leadership. Dobrin wrote about how a piece by Barber now has special or different meaning for him. He also writes about how one woman felt she couldn’t go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art until all those who had been killed had been accounted for.
It made me wonder about the role of art in my own life. I hadn’t realized that since Katrina, in contrast to the woman he wrote about in his article, I’d been going to the Philadelphia Museum of Art literally every week. My tack has been to visit one new section or collection each week. In fact I even bought a membership. I’ve gone 6 times now, every Sunday morning. Since other more personal things have also taken place in my own life in recent months, I’ve buried myself in the creation of my own art in a way even more intensive than in recent years. My own photography has moved to a place where I see differently at the moment, I compose pictures differently, more intensely, more slowly, more deliberately, I use color more intensely, all in ways I never thought possible.
Having watched the first installment of the Martin Scorcese’s Bob Dylan documentary last night, I’m moved by how Dylan responded to life around him, how his voice developed in response to the difficulties of the time. His earliest music making was simply an absorption of what he heard around him as he learned the mechanics and craft of his trade, which he then quickly developed into his personal voice. He heard and saw the difficulties of the civil rights movement and wrote lyrics and poetry that subtly spoke to the issues and failures in what was purported to have been a free society at the time.
I guess what I’m saying to you, bloggers, is what exactly is the role of music or art in society? In your own life? Is it meant to simply be ornamentation, something pretty to look at or listen to? Is it meant to be responsive to certain conditions of the time? Who and where is that political troubador today? Does art have a responsibility to be many things to many people? One can listen to Beethoven’s 6th Symphony “Pastoral” in its purest structural musical context, or one can listen to it in its pictoral or even its Disney-fied version. And maybe either are ok, right? One can listen to Mahler’s 9th Symphony without knowing of his deep depression at the time and without knowing of the diagnosis of his potentially and ultimately fatal heart condition, as depicted in the opening bars of the first movement. One can listen to “Blowin in the Wind” in its purest most beautiful melodic sense. Or one can listen to the power of the words and intellectually and emotionally understand them as a call to action.
I guess I’m going out on a limb here folks. This blog is new, the traffic is not here yet, we’re all working on that here at the Kimmel Center. And there’s not a lot of dialogue, that’s where you come in. Blogs exist as dialogues, like conversations that take place in a bar, in the line at the bank or at the grocery store, on the train on the way to work, at the office cooler, at the football game. Tell me I’m right, or tell me I’m wrong about my assertions. We can argue those points online much the same way we can argue them in person. If you’re simply lurking on the site, checking in from time to time to see what others are saying, now is your chance step forward and speak. I’m neither right nor wrong in my assertions, and that’s what they are, simply my opinions and assertions.
Thanks, Paul, for the reminder of Dobrin's article. It moved me, too, and reminded me of the ways that I need and use music/art in my own life. When I was younger and all emotions and their expression was new, music helped me feel and move through the dramas in my life. Now, as mom to a 2yo daughter, I've been teaching her that listening to music and singing and drawing can help move her through her stressful times, too. AND, that it can heighten the lovely, whimsical, joyous moments, too.
Thanks for the reminder! Laura
There are so many different ways people can look at the question(s) you've raised, Paul. My head is swimming right now. I remember tunes I loved when I was younger because they were so emotionally charged, yet now they mean nothing to me. Even though I deal with crazy amounts of music and musicians each day, I still have a love for music, but I hate how it feels when the music becomes "work" for me. When that point arrives, I force myself to go to a show (a work in progress, if you will)to bring the love back. I could go on for days on this subject, but I'll spare everyone and cut myself off.
Everyone else out there really needs to respond to Paul's post, because I think it's the best question I've been asked all month, and there's endless paths you can take with your responses.
I don't think anyone can deny that somehow art and music affect every single person - even in the tiniest ways. In my own life, music (especially my clarinet) has been a source of great solace, great intimacy and even great anger.
While I think its great to know the true meaning behind the artists' work and inspiration - sometimes it means more to draw your own from it. The great thing about art, music, theatre dance and the list as it goes on is that you are able to draw from it and make it your own.
My boyfriend is an artist and he has drawn and painted some truely surreal things - but my favorite response when someone asks him "But, What does it MEAN?" is:
"What does it mean to YOU?"