The Way of StoryOpen to Insights
Open for Insights
After living in NYC for 20 years – my theatre years – I was invited to work in Hollywood. After working in Hollywood for 5 years as a screenwriter and teaching graduate screenwriting at USC, I moved to Ojai, California.
I soon learned of the annual Ojai Music Festival – now in its 80th year – where Stravinsky & John Cage had premiered their earlier work. Enjoying the outside concert setting shaded by massive oak trees, the setting was soon shattered by a cacophony of chaos. The musicians were top-notch but I could not respond to the atonal sounds. It sounded to me like the Times Square subway station as trains screeched to a sudden stop. I soon left telling myself that I did not move from New York to hear this! It made me realize that I like the old guys: 18th and 19th century composers and that the ‘new guys’ were not my thing. In other words, I judged and closed the door to modern classical music.
Three decades later, I decide d to attend the final concert of the Music Festival which word had it that this was the best of the week’s offerings. And the evening began with Bach’s Prelude from the Partita#3 for solo violin. It was wonderful. Yet next came a long piece by Gyorgy Ligeti. My gut reaction was to shut down and judge once again this ‘new music’. Yet then I reflected that perhaps I should remain open, forego judging, and try to listen with ‘new’ ears. It took a few minutes, but I tried to find the story it was trying to tell. In other ways, I tried to find my way in. The female violinist was exceptional and sometimes offered a melodic strain which was beautiful though surrounded by jarring music of percussion, brass, and bass. With closed eyes, the story slowly emerged and carried me into what the music was saying. I heard the violin as a soul striving to survive in a world of chaos. It soon became clear how this new music was a response to our country and world today. Intense, jarring with autocrats and war. Yes, I understood the composer’s intent and knew that though it was not the kind of music I would choose, it mattered.
The lesson was even if something does not attract, it is a good thing to avoid judgment and remain open to understand the creator’s intent. In any given life situation, there is always something to learn if we remain open to insights.
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