Emily on music as our birthright

From Emily Wright, writing about stage fright:

Finally, it’s good to remember what music is. It’s not something churned out of a conservatory, or reserved for only those who “deserve” it. It is our human birthright, and part of all of us. Who, in the history of anything, did it perfectly every time? And would we want that anyway? Life is short, and good. Enjoy it, even with a little nervousness thrown in on occasion.

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Walter Mondale on Giving a Cello Recital

Giving a cello recital? Terrified?

Relax, it’s natural. Turns out it’s even worse than giving a Presdential acceptance speech at a national political convention, at least according to Walter Mondale. He’s probably the only living person to have done both.

“I guess you could say I was anxious,” he said [referring to his speech].

But not terrified. For example, giving that huge speech wasn’t nearly so terrifying as playing a cello recital when he was growing up in Ceylon, Minn.

Mondale says one issue was, “I was no good on the cello.”

Hah! I know plenty of cellists who are at least, well, somewhat good on the cello (and some who are really good) and it seems we all get terrified from time to time, no matter how well other people may tell us we play.

(For the younger ones amongst us, Mondale was Jimmy Carter’s Vice President and the 1984 Democratic candidate for President.)