Enter Sibelius…
Last night my good buddy and I went to watch a performance called “First and Last” by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. We are blessed in Melbourne with entertainment that is filled with sound, from the roaring of Grand Prix to the beauty of the Symphony. My preference the Symphony, but I love this city that gives so much. But I digress…
The Symphony last night was beautiful. The concert pianist, was Ronald Farren-Price, he is 88. It was his last performance. He played amazingly, with dexterity, fluidity and passion. After a standing ovation, he came back and said, “I have been told to play something else.” With no sheet music, he decided to play a beautiful piece by Mendelssohn. I sat in awe, watching the music flow through his hands and come out of the grand piano. What struck me, is he must have in his lifetime, practiced and played over and over and over again. The music was in his cells, his neurons unthinkingly just going down a path familiar to him, because it had become part of who he is. I do believe we are the sum total of our repeated thoughts, attitudes, deeds, which over time get so entrenched in our bodies and thinking that we become them. This 88 year old was music. He had soaked it up, absorbed it, lived it for so long that you could see the notes that defined him.
What I was left with besides the music, was a reminder, to be vigilant with what I think, do, say and repeat over and over again, because when I am 88, and I am in auto-pilot, I want my cells to remember love, compassion, wisdom, freedom, ingenuity and loads of other things, not TV programs, gossip, pettiness or fears. Thanks Ronald, for the reminder that we are our inputs and we need to stay disciplined and focussed on a daily basis, to make beautiful music, no matter what that music is.
PS…In all of that I also have discovered a new composer…enter Sibelius 🙂
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