Thanks to Caryl Johnston for alerting me to a passage from The Merchant of Venice (Act 1, scene 1) in which Shakespeare affirms that a test of a man’s character rests on his feelings toward music:
“Therefore the poet
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods
Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils.
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus.
Let no such man be trusted. Mark the music.”
Rendered in modern language on the linked web site as:
“There’s nothing in the world that can resist music. The man who can’t be moved by the harmonious melodies is fit only for treason, violence, and pillage. His soul is as dull as night and dark as the underworld. Nobody like that should be trusted. Pay attention to the music.”
My jest about testing candidates and prospective sociopaths by their love for music is not a new idea although it’s pleasing to have thought of it independently.
As for myself, I took up trumpet at age 8 and eventually it became a source of income in several ways in jazz bands, dance bands, a light classical orchestra, and other, even before my teens. In exchange for being bugler, I got 3 eight-week summers at a YMCA camp. No fees. Lately, I’ve picked it up again and it’s a great pleasure to noodle around and play tunes by ear. Louis Armstrong pointed out that to play this instrument and keep up the chops, he had to warm up at least an hour a day and usually 2-3 hours of practice. Cat Anderson would play one note in long tones for 30 minutes as part of his daily routine. Dizzy Gillespie said “Some days you get up and put the horn to your chops and it sounds pretty good and you win. Some days you try and nothing works and the horn wins. This goes on and on and then you die and the horn wins.”
8:58 am on August 11, 2014
