Special charges

Da Capo Va - http://dacapova.org 

We as musicians have far more impact and value on our society than most think.

I believe that there are many more musicians among us than we acknowledge and truly value. in our corporations, small businesses, restaurants, neighborhoods, churches. DaCapoVa attempts to find them , empower them, and make a difference for them and through them.

I charge you to share your skills and passions, seeking to find new common ground in a grass roots movement. We must pass civilizations’ quality test while at the same time, remain true to our personal identities and passions. We must be true to who we are and embrace others in a shared journey.

President John F. Kennedy said, “The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation is close to the center of a nation’s purpose—and is a test of the quality of a nation’s civilization.”

I think we would all agree that even among our privileged Americal lifestyles, Our “civilization” is far from what we all would wish it to be. We are a society of ME, which must be come a culture of US. Each of us has our own wishes, our own projects, our own sphere of influence. Working for ourselves is simply not enough. Making Music can bring people together, and will strengthen relationships. People can change the world. The simple act of singing or playing an instrument can and will make a difference in your day and in others'..

I challenge you to embrace our Da Capo Way and use it to reach beyond your comfortable surroundings in church choirs, schools, maybe even professional concert venues. Seek to use your music to make a difference, in OUR world. Use it to build relationships with people. Use it to “include” all in elite but never elitist opportunities. Use it to raise the bar for yourself, your students, your children, your neighbors.. the list goes on and on.

I cannot change the world alone, but I can make a difference where I am, by being honest about who I am.

Great Pianist Leon Fleischer said: “Beethoven inscribed in his copy of the “Missa Solemnis,” the purpose of music is to communicate from the heart to the heart. Beethoven’s vision of music as a force capable of reconciling us to each other and to the world may today seem remote, but that renders it an ever more crucial ideal for which to strive.”

We are connected by music, but we are more closely connected by our identity as musicians and music lovers. I challenge you to take that love, and use some of your time and energy to help us try something that looks like the same old music, but is being played in an entirely new way.. “from the top” Da Capo.

I am proposing to you all that we embrace a new musical value paradigm based around your relationship to other musicians. Think carefully about the value of a “Musician” in our world.. not only the value of the music that he or she can make, but think carefully on the impact that each musician has on the people and events he or she interacts within.

“Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me.” Albert Schweizer

Embrace your world in all its diversity. Find ways to make music by yourself, with your students, your children, your neighbors.. etc.. Don’t be willing to just put on a CD and listen to someone else making music. Take the time and energy to share YOUR music. It is special and unique and valuable, just as you are special unique and valuable.

We as musicians have an obligation to share our music, we have been given talents and blessings. We have skills that we can pass down to all generations. We each have a place, and we each “own” a piece of the puzzle in our hearts and in our music.