Mel Bay's Creative Keyboard® Webzine | Misha Stefanuk - Making the World a Better Place

Making the World a Better Place

Every December I feel like talking about something more global than just another technical article or an interview. I also like to bring subjects far from music into the discussion. Last week I had a chance to hear and meet Norm Abram. Those who watch HGTV know that Norm is a carpenter, who has been on TV for decades building furniture and helping people improve their lives. Norm was on tour of This Old House, the show dedicated to all sorts of things constructive. I felt like I have met an old friend, not a celebrity, just a regular guy, whom I happened to see on TV many Sunday mornings before going to play a church service.

Among things that are on TV today, many leave me very frustrated, and I found myself watching very limited programming. When I try to understand how I make this choice, I see two opposite tendencies- isolating myself from negative emotions, and looking for positive. First one immediately eliminates all sorts of news and shows based on violence., which cuts out about eighty percent of what is on. Second leads me to watch instructional and educational programming, like Norm's show. I did not make this choice consciously, it happened over time, but by now it is a pretty strong preference that I have.

When I think of our mission as music teachers and musicians, I see the same two processes that I just described. I try to isolate and take out negativity, and bring in the positive aspects of life when I teach. I think life is divided into organized knowledge and wisdom on one hand, and unorganized disharmony, violence and chaos on the other. I believe it is our mission as teachers and musicians to fight chaos, and try to take over it using our knowledge and wisdom as weapons. As musicians we are not just producing pretty noise, we are opposing the violent and problematic world with our music, helping to improve life and make it a better place. After September 11th happened, I wanted to stop writing music altogether, and three days later recorded a CD in which I tried to deal with complex and problematic emotions that overwhelmed me at the time. For me it was a kind of therapy, which helped me through. I have never listened to that recording after it was finished, but others commented that it helped them to deal with the tragedy as well. Similarly, our function as teachers of music is also not only to expose our students to music, but also to teach them how to fight and win this battle between beautiful and ugly.

In our contemporary world, we are constantly competing for success, money and attention. Too often by the time we get successful, we do not remember what initially made us to become musicians. When I think about this subject, I realize that making world a better place always was my main motivation, and it makes me feel better knowing that I am not alone on this journey. When I meet somebody as successful, creative and positive as Norm, I feel that there is a strong substance behind these people, the power of opposing the destructive powers of reality of which there are many, with creativity and every-day work. There is always more furniture and houses we can build, more music we can write and play, and more students we can share this idea with! When we think of our New Year's resolution this year, I hope we remember what brought us into music, and that we have obligations to others to explain and demonstrate this idea to them, and try to convert them into believers in the better world.

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