Inner Children

Two things of note happened in my life yesterday.

Firstly, Jeremy and I went to see the last day of the Paul Klee exhibit at the Menil Collection. I was impressed by the prolific variety of styles he painted in. I thought to myself about how so many singers try to box themselves into a certain repertoire or “fach”. Why the need to be locked into the box? For the illusion of safety that it provides? Why not do like this man did and simply paint what was clearly in his heart and mind in whatever way he felt it was best expressed?


At the exhibition, I also discovered that Diego Rivera wrote that Klee was "one of the wisest painters and one of the greatest child/poets of the world." This juxtaposition of wise and child struck me as so vital to being an artist. How we need to balance staying in touch with our inner child (that part of us that holds the passion for what we do), and how through that child we discover the wisdom our art provides us.

The second event of note was the fun evening of music-making that we had in our apartment last night. We began the evening with a trial run of the first half of my upcoming chamber music concert for some musician friends, and then everyone began to read through some music that they all brought. It was an eclectic evening, including everything from Rigoletto arias to Debussy piano duets to Schumann pieces written for viola and piano. It was so fun to see people let their hair down and let out their little inner child that drew them to music in the first place.