A Key Connection
“Serious or spontaneous, Mrs. Bodwin. Which do you want me to be?” Joseph P. Sanderton, 16 years old, was frustrated with his favourite teacher. She had read all the papers handed in about what her English student's passions were. There had been quite a pleasing array ~ from dog training to some great social issues of the day. When it came to Joseph’s paper, she frowned. “Well, Joseph, I’m really not certain. You’ve written about being serious about a stage career in concert piano, which is admirable. Then you go on to talk about ‘jazz joints’ and busking on street corners.” She looked up at him, set his paper down and said sternly “You’ll have to rewrite this and tell me how those two things come together. If they come together.” Joseph took the paper from her. He really hadn’t thought about how strange the two concepts looked together. She had asked him to stay after class to discuss this with him. A talented young man, she had heard him play many times, both classical and jazz piano. When she read his paper, it was patently obvious that he had not seen the connecting theme. There was a desire for concert piano and a similar desire for jazz piano. His adolescent musician’s mind had yet to connect the two. Any good jazz musician, or concert pianist, was always both serious and spontaneous. The passion was music. Maybe with a rewrite he would see the connection. Her face relaxed, her voice softened “Just try again, Joseph and look for a connection between the two ~ you may find you don’t need to be serious or spontaneous.”
“Invisible threads are the strongest ties.”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche
No comments:
Post a Comment