"The need for art is, more than ever, necessary in our daily life. The public taught me this at my pre talks, during concerts and after the concert at receptions and dinners. As an artist and especially as a musician and artistic and music director, I feel we need to keep our ears and eyes wide open. Observation is a primary science in this sense.

 

Refreshing your vision is a form of interpretation then when sometimes I prepare a score so well that when I find myself in front of the orchestra, my study, preparation and interpretation, doesn’t work with this ensemble. Then comes this “why” again in the front as a first question. I have to refresh my vision and select my perspectives to expand my mind.

The frame, from which we are educated as artists is very instructive, it demands an enormous discipline; as demanding and rigorous as the high level athletes.

During my career as conductor I always kept close friendship with the business and sports people and wanted to learn from them; what is their path of thinking, constructing, advancing, developing, results, . . . to discover together with them that our path of communication has helped us a lot in our study of development to change the lens, to refresh our vision by creating beauty in any standard life or community.

“Why music helps with solutions as in nature . . .”

The form and content of a classical music piece is very effective at expressing the spirit, in developing hope and fears.

It creates dialogue, participation, builds bridges across differences, all because the right rhythm and harmony, even inspired sometimes by strange accords, can change our vision and image to a civil consciousness infused with the power of culture.

Conducting an orchestra with the same piece of music in different countries, such as Mexico, Belgium, Korea, France or Slovakia needs another approach but we have the same harmonies and rhythms. Then we speak about stretching our mind, our habits, our observation and change the lens for the same subject which is the real power of culture.

 

“But you can only whistle in the dark for so long before seeking a candle.”

 

Seeing our business as a piece of music, a musical score gives us a completely new perceptives, as a skilled artist with eyes of businessperson or the discipline of a high level sports figure.

This, what we can call culture, connects us to our past, to our future in supporting collective resilience; enlarges our spirits definitely.

The information we receive as good observers can depend completely in two different meanings and give us even an optical illusion. But why keep our eyes wide open, turn away from nothing, cultivate empathy and imagination, take risks, admit mistakes, … we learn to see liked skilled artists.

We are, despite remarkable cultural diversity, all the same underneath; essential experiences of humanity. Music reminds us, invites us to remember that we’re a beauty of pleasure, the receiver whose thoughts and feelings are carried on a melody that connect us to others.

We are a storytelling animal, and language and story has been our selective advantage.

Who can disagree?

An educational system that answers these questions will teach resilience, imagination, improvisation, empathy, and critical thinking.

Because learning to see art teaches people to see both the details and the patterns amongst details….

Global assessments are mostly based on what they had expected to see, or are willing to see.

 

Change the lens and we will all discover, discover the change we need, the new input we need, a new wave, a new wind with respect and freedom, we will achieve this.

 

“Becoming an artist gave me empathy,imagination,

the ability to conceive of another life,

the skills of observation,

reflection and communication,

the experience of beauty,

the power of creating meaning,

a taste of what it meant to excel at something,

the desire to always go deeper and see more

and a longing to use my gifts to make a difference.”

 

b-h VAN de VELDE

(source “the culture of possibility” A. GOLDBARD)