An old man was walking on the beach and noticed that a little girl was busy picking up stranded starfish and said, “the beach is so long and there are so many starfish it can’t possibly help the starfish to throw them back into the ocean.” She replied, “Well, if I don’t throw them back they will die.” “Well, there are so many it won’t make a difference,” exclaimed the old man. While tossing one back into the water, the little girl replied “I am sure it makes a difference to this one!”
The first thing that occurs to me for a blog to you comes from a comment to me after my performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sept. 1st at the Hollywood Bowl. It reminded me, yet again, what is so beautiful about the performer’s life, whether it is a musical instrument, the voice, or piano (obviously, the last two are not in the echelon of musical instruments per se – that’s a joke!) We all try to make a difference to whom we perform or to an audience. For me, there are those times when the feeling has been mind blowing and transcendental. Sometimes, in a much bigger way, a film, a painting, or a piece of sculpture can literally take our breath away and in an instant we understand a little bit more of life’s secrets and an endless gift to us: the truth.
Mitch Newman, a fine violinist in the LA Philharmonic, said to me that I had told him over 20 years ago something about producing color on the violin and that he wanted to thank me after all these years for something that “changed my life” and provided a sense of what music can mean through these colors. I don’t recall if that’s how my insight was offered, but if we can do anything on this planet that helps others in any small way, that is the greatest gift.
