There was a student performer who faced the end of his educational career. He was given the task of assembling an audience for his final recital. When the day came, he and his teacher stood upon stage facing an empty auditorium. The teacher, who would've introduced the student to his final performance, questioned his motive for the lack of an audience. He responded...
"I came here, not necessarily to pass but to learn, develop, interpret, and to
explore the depth of my potential musical imagination. I have come to find
that an audience's physical presence does not justify a musical statement's
existence but rather spreads it. I would not like to become a performer that
performs for the applause of that audience but rather to have my God-given
voice portray the simplicity and complexity that exists in each corner of my
fabricated sense of that which is defined as music. I wish that my voice join
others that have been expressed here, alongside the very instruments that have
,as tools, portrayed the statements of others, all lead by the conductors that have
bended the time of pieces into shapes which we cannot explain but are rather
drawn to. That is the performer I seek to become."
Although initially failing his last assignment, his teacher came to realize that music is not a subject matter that can be teached but one that can be infinitely explored. That day on, this teacher understood his position not as a teacher or instructor of the word, arts, but rather a student of the performer's final words...
-Christopher "Chrispy AKA Kon" Phiouthong
