congrats sir, mr. hartenberger of nexus!

today, my work brought me to a quite an important junction point of many people's lives: russell hartenberger's retirement concert at the faculty of music, full of percussionists of all ages and times. especially the young ones.

snowy april, dreadful outside. but people trickled in all afternoon, carrying snare drums, for the snare drum olympics (haha this is an annual ritual… i wonder if i can find a vid clip of it); and by 730pm, the walter hall lobby was full of friends, families, students, mentors, just people who shared memories, laughters and marking of passage of time.

all these people came because they have been given something real when they crossed prof hartenberger+nexus. nexus is bit special, the first percussion group that became a western classical music standard format.  AND they are all good people. throughout their entire career, life and performance.

https://youtu.be/h2Rm8oFIMmk
*here's a lovely performance from 1980s!

i have seen them in so many different shows, with so many different ideas and people since i came to the faculty in 1999.  on stage. in teaching studios. in hallways. libraries. lobby. rehearsing. performing. loading and unloading. and never in my life i have seen any of them losing their grace, talent or humanity.

today, people came, and those who could not, sent messages. so many lovely messages. and the younger generation, they are playing on the stage. of music they love. the music their teachers love. the music that we hear now- making us stop, to take a look, to have a listen.

in some of the musical selections, i keep seeing each members of nexus, as these parts were written for each person in mind.  with recent loss of robin engelman,- a dearest figure in my university life, during this retirement concert, i cannot help but to think how beautiful life can be, to live through our short life spans, by transferring, inspiring and provoking one into quest of beauty.  and when i look back on the stage, i see these young people, full of life and excitement, playing these music with vigour and life.

the reality of life lives in the presence of beauty.
of humanity.

days like today, i love my job and i think of people who i may no longer see physically. but they are in my heart. as i chew on so many engelman jokes, i wonder what it will be like, to look back and wonder if i have managed to share beauty with others.  after all, that's all what's about isn't it?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

canned cocktail wiener found in walter hall

Image
today, walter hall was hosting a special event for violists: heidi castleman masterclass. she teaches at juilliard and yes, i think it is quite exciting to play for a different teacher- you can take away so much with you, the inspiration, technical knowledge, a new emotional dimension, you name it. and i was confronted by a special person as well, just not as helpful, however impressive. walter hall is a busy place. and it's only a natural thing that students want to get in there to practice- it sounds good, it feels good and yes, there is shortage of space at busy times of the day in school. however, it is a performance hall and not a practice room, especially regarding the pianos. the piano technicians work very hard to keep the instruments to meet the heavy demands.  they come way before the students, to yield to the kiddies who want to practice. and yes, they do go home after a day's work.  and because many musical events take place in late evenings, it is important ...
Read more

the violence of spring

Image
spring returns brutishly below the beautiful petals transparent against the blue  is the strength that pushed through the frozen solid ground  with absolute conviction, it draws from the depth, pushes it up and up and up, little bulbs covered in papery brown skins turn into living fanfare despite all the concrete the bird songs echo off the glass menageries dead brown twigs surge with green blood  when the light hits just right everything alive is beautiful and bright flaunting victory over the days of hunched shoulders and white knuckles the absence hits with a deafening scream we are all back in the midst of this madness through it all, death carves out laser sharp edges of ones in eternal stillness where nothing changes gentle spring kind spring violent and unstoppable spring the light makes it possible to see the hollows where no shadow casts as it is empty i called mom and said that spring returned with a thundering conviction of repetition- we didnt say but we both ...
Read more

goodbye day

Image
i went to see her early today and one of the things i asked was: when i grow up, what kind of person would you like me to be? she said: of course, you are already good, but you could work hard to become super-famous pianist and be gentle-hearted. i said: you cant really be gentle-hearted and powerful at the same time (chuckle) she said: really? i see... i said: pick one! she said: then.... be the very best gentle-hearted person you can be. i was going to return tomorrow morning early at 8am, so i can get some work done later in the day. at 6pm, i put on mahler 9th and felt restless. so i decided to take a bath. while the water ran, i debated whether i should go back to see her then. out of a blue. a dense nudge in the heart. i did not. but i did search for 'how to give bath to seniors.' thought it would be nice to give her a bath, if possible- i bet she hasnt had one in awhile, and she used to love it. then around 8, mom called. the universe as i known it, shattered itself in a...
Read more