Hallelujah

On many Saturday afternoons, I play the piano at Chocolate Springs Cafe in Lenox, MA.  People come in, often entranced. Joshua Needleman makes some of the best chocolate in the world, not to mention his sorbets, hot chocolate, and pastries. They're drawn to the variety of delicacies he offers. I see them contemplating, 'what delicious treat should I select?'

Oftentimes, it seems as if people are too distracted to hear the music. For a performer, that can be difficult. As I wrote in the album notes for my first CD, Haven, "every musician knows that when a listening ear and heart receive what you are creating, the circle is complete. Music flourishes in the silence between notes and the arcs of phrases."  But, what if there isn't apparently a listening ear or a receptive heart? 

Over the course of playing at Chocolate Springs, I've started to realize that I don't actually know how the music is touching people. Time and again, someone will come up just before they leave--someone who had been oblivious to the music, or so it seemed. And they'll thank me with great sincerity and appreciation. These small moments have changed my sense of performance. Music penetrates in ways that I may not be aware of. So, I've begun to trust that the music is reaching people even if it's not apparent to me.  Trust is a beautiful thing. It releases me. More and more I'm playing "in duet with God," that is, in 'duet' with the spiritual inspiration that comes to me when I immerse myself in the music.



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