Beauty is one of life's greatest joys. It is a source of awe and it builds community because people share their experiences of awe with each other. Consequently, when beauty fully manifests, people experience a deep sense of meaning, joy, and unity, which has a way of healing life's greatest difficulties. We can therefore assert that beauty is healing, and an essential part of our human experience. In order to encounter this beauty, we need people to take on the noble task of discovering it and sharing it with the broader community diligently and courageously. These people, we call artists.
But its not only the artists we need. We also need those who the artists themselves depend upon - the craftsmen. Songwriters and composers, as artists, need singers, musicians, orchestras, choirs, and bands as the skilled craftsmen, the executors of their artistic visions. You don't have to be the artistic type to learn how to play music. In fact, the joy and unity people can experience is largely dependent upon their ability to make something beautiful or do something beautifully. This means, in order to make the world more beautiful, meaningful, and joyful, you - yes, YOU - should choose an instrument and start practicing...which means you need a teacher...
That's where I come in. I have been playing music since I was 12 years old and am currently being classically trained by Michael Partington at the University of Washington. I also have an EP of four songs published on all streaming platforms titled Cabin Mountain Blues. I've been teaching guitar since September 2021, and I find that my students love to play their instruments, and they sound GREAT.
If you don't currently need a music teacher, then perhaps you're hosting an event where you want live music, or you want to enliven the customers at the bar you so diligently run. That's also where I come in. Imagine all your guests and/or customers gathered around, singing songs in unison and going home with a sense of appreciation and joy for the beauty of their lives...suddenly, the world is a better place!
I think the world would be better off if we treated music and art with higher value than its mere financial utility or "entertainment" value. Beauty has philosophical utility, even moral utility. It is of inestimable worth. It makes everything and everyone better.
The world needs beauty, and all the awe, joy, and unity that it brings. It needs people to provide this beauty. That's what I'm here for. And, hopefully, in one form or another, that's what you're here for too.
Cover art: The Annunciation by Henry Ossowa Tanner, 1898