Tag: poetry
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on!”
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
-Rudyard Kipling
I love the following entertaining TED talk with Benjamin Zander discussing the power of classical music.
(I am one of the 10-year-olds he refers to who gave up on the piano . . .)
Benjamin claims there are 3 major groups:
1. The first group is absolutely passionate about classical music. They listen to it all of the time, attend the symphony and they have children who play musical instruments. This is the smallest group.
2. The second group doesn’t mind classical music. They come home from a long day, take a glass of wine and put their feet up with a little Vivaldi in the background. (I fall into this group with an occasional trip to the symphony).
3. The third group never listen to classical music. It is simply not part of their lives. They might hear it like second-hand smoke at the airport and maybe a little bit of a march from Aida when they come into the hall, but otherwise they never hear it. This is the largest group of people.
Benjamin Zander wants everyone to understand and love classical music. His enthusiasm is contagious in this 20 minute talk.
Classical Music is for Everyone!
I’m reminded of Billy Collins poem Piano Lessons where he writes:
“I am learning to play
“It Might as Well Be Spring”
but my left hand would rather be jingling
the change in the darkness of my pocket
or taking a nap on an armrest.
I have to drag him into the music
like a difficult and neglected child.
This is the revenge of the one who never gets
to hold the pen or wave good-bye,
and now, who never gets to play the melody.”
twenty five seconds 