More secrets revealed!

 This past Sunday I was on the podcast over at Secrets of Organ Playing talking with its host, Vidas Pinkevicius. It was a wide ranging conversation, dealing with subjects like organ improvisation, what motivates an artist, blogging, organ registration, and so on. The hour was over in a hurry!

The pull quote that Vidas used from the interview, in which I basically said that I reason I do what I do--blogging, teaching, sharing music--was just that I felt compelled to do it, reminded me of a quote I have on my website (on the About page). Most of my pages have quotes on them at the top from some very diverse sources, and this one comes from a tightrope walker named Phillipe Pettit. He was once interviewed by Stephen Colbert, and was asked what made him do what he did. He said:

It’s because I have no choice, and I think a true artist should always have that as an answer. If you know why you paint, well, maybe you’re not driven by painting and waking up and hav[ing] to face the empty canvas. If you don’t know, it’s much better than if you know.

 
We also spent time on the power of storytelling--in music and otherwise. I'm thankful that many of my new readers this week have been telling me their stories. I'm interested in hearing about your interests, too. This blog covers a wide range of topics, from concert preparation and music to various aspects of playing both the piano and the organ. In a couple of weeks I'm going to tackle the topic of improvisation.

You can find the interview [here]. That link will take you to Vidas' soundcloud page which has many other episodes from organists, professors, organ builders, recording engineers--pretty much every aspect of the art and craft of organ playing is covered. And I have to say from listening to several of the other episodes that it puts me in pretty exalted company.

I hope you find it interesting and useful. And if you also have plenty of holiday concerts and rehearsals to play this weekend, good luck and enjoy. And for my European readers, Happy St. Nicholas Day on Sunday (or whenever you celebrate it).