Thoughts on music while traveling

Country of Lebanon is full of contrasts. You have Christians living side by side with Muslims. Mosques across churches, modern restaurants in ancient ruins, incredible Lebanese food served with French fries and coleslaw, hookah served with sashimi, full symphony orchestra withy great musicians and not a single educational orchestra program. Children here speak Arabic, English and French.

The week here was really exhausting but I have learned probably more than I could teach. Here one can feel how much of a difference you make teaching music. These young people have never experienced playing music together. I hope that in the future when these kids will become adults with their own opinions and beliefs - they will remember that experience. That we are all sharing the joy of music together and we are all equal under the composer. Between gun shots and Ramadan celebrations I can only be thankful for this experience of feeling the real power of music.

There is a beautiful cave next to the city. It was considered one of the wonders of the world. If you take repetition and variation as hen basis for describing the beauty of music - that cave was a perfect example. The stalactites and stalagmites were all made almost in exact same way, formed similarly to each other, creating churches and organs, however, not a single one of them was similar to the other one.

I think this relates to music directly. We play notes and we repeat phrases, gestures, dynamics, articulations, sections, but not a single note can be executed the same way twice. The variety of nuance is really the key to understanding the beauty of nature and art.