mpeter892

My soul was a blank canvas before you painted it with notes and rhythms

You inspired me

From the first time I showed up to a Sunday rehearsal

Your words etched music deeper into my heart

Stitching up the cracks, filling them like mortar between ancient stones

You opened my eyes to the impact a simple song can have

And I fell in love with the instrument in my hands

I’m going to change the world through music, you chant

The melodies that drip from my fingertips will cure loneliness

My sweet song will ease the fiercest pain into a dull murmur

I must go forth, gripping my torch lit with music’s flame

Because you believe I can make an impact

I tumble through life’s challenges, my violin always at my side

When I feel lost, I look for the impact you speak of

I search for the change I am bringing

And it’s there, all around me

I look into a woman’s eyes, overflowing with tears

They tumble down her wrinkled cheeks after my performance at her nursing home

The impact is there

I watch a small child’s face light up when I demonstrate the sound of a violin,

His joy evident in his warm laughter and gap tooth smile 

The impact is there

I listen to the steady voices of strangers as they chant “Encore!” 

Their cries bouncing off the hall’s golden chandeliers and into my heart

The impact is there

It’s all around me, just like you said it would be

And I am ignited from the core at the realization, my eyes widening in awe

Such influence music holds, such power 

I marvel at the good it can bring to the world

Love can move mountains, but music can move people

Move them to tears, to laughter, to inexplicable joy and sorrow,

To dance, to sing, to clasp hands with a stranger

You showed me what music is capable of,

What I am capable of

Sometimes the world tries to drag me down

The needles of despair piercing my heart

The claws of oppression snagging my hair

I find myself crumbling, collapsing,

And nothing in the world can mend my sorrow

But I return to the rehearsal room in the aftermath of the storm to find you,

Poised on the conductor’s platform like always,

A symbol of unwavering stability

I look into your eyes and know you expect nothing less than everything

Your passion clears the fog in my head

Your determination moves my soul to action

And I am swept into the roaring hurricane that is music

I remember one rehearsal where you gave us advice, and it stuck with me

You said that in a professional orchestra,

There are only two words a musician needs to know

“Yes, Maestro”

Because in the real world, disagreeing with the maestro

Is like writing yourself a ticket out of the entire music field

It’s akin to putting yourself on a blacklist for all highly-regarded musicians to see

One should never object to the sacred words of their conductor

Such advice applies to me now more than ever

As I prepare to plunge straight into the competitive world of music

My delicate wings hesitate to unfold

As words of disapproval hit me like throwing knives

“You’ll never make any money,” they say

I started too late, there are so many more advanced violinists

But they don’t understand; they don’t see what you see

Each of your encouraging words is worth more than a thousand of their dejecting remarks

The thing is, I can’t listen to their discouragement

Because you’ve told me to pursue my passion at all costs

You’ve told me to make a difference by doing what I love

And you’ve also told me that I must never disagree with my conductor

So I can only respond with this

Yes, Maestro

I will keep making music

I will hold on to the faith you have in me,

Even on the days when my own faith has dissipated

If I fall, I will craft mountains of ascending notes from thin air

And use them to lift myself up again

I will cradle the melodies in my hands

And pour my heart out for everyone to see