Dreams

Dreams many times just remain dreams.

Lately I have been watching music videos, primarily with Israeli artists. During these viewining they show the orchestras and all the musicians, and that made me think. A child develops an interest to certain musical instrument, that is very nice and commendable. Parents start to finance the musical education and training with high hopes in their hearts. These hopes drive the child to the time consuming exercises and taking this very seriously. The child also has dreams for the future.

Parents and children, all hope to become that particular artist the world had not seen before. And this where dreams will remain dreams. As time goes by, they will realize this not to happen. No solo performances in Carnegie Hall, a high school or college concert will remain the highpoint of their career. Pretty depressing, if you ask me.

Looking at these orchestra I am seeing the violin players and think that every one of them had different dreams when they started to play the violin. Later the best they could hope for a place in an orchestra where they will just remain a nameless member of an entourage. Unfortunately, violin is one where in orchestras large numbers are needed and to excel is not that easy. One might become the first violin but the rest are just the support players. This is depressing.

There are other instruments in orchestras where larger numbers of musicians are needed like base and others but there are some instruments where a small number of musicians are used. These instruments provide an opportunity to excel. But at an early age this factor is not a driving force in selecting the right musical instrument.  

So, watching any orchestra to play we get close to a large group of unfulfilled dreamers.