JAM: October/November 2001 Issue: President's Corner

John Leisenring

Now Is the Time for Wisdom, Strength... and Music
I am attempting to write this piece on September 12, 2001, one day after our country, and arguably the world, changed irrevocably and forever. I have spent more than 24 hours, along with all of you and most of mankind, experiencing the horror of the attacks on our nation. I am shocked, anguished and dismayed. I feel vulnerable and scared. I feel anger. I have cried. I have prayed.

I cannot help but feel that our country has entered a phase of its history that will be unique. I believe, as with Pearl Harbor in 1941, but in so many ways unlike Pearl Harbor, that September 11, 2001 will be remembered throughout the future of America with the same revulsion and, hopefully, the same dedication as that awful day almost sixty years ago.

With what both the short and long term future have in store for us, we will need wisdom and strength and faith. AND WE WILL NEED MUSIC!

Sports journalist Joe Posnanski, writing in today's Kansas City Star, speaks of the foolishness of sport in times like these, and he is right. Games, at all levels and for the immediate future, have been cancelled. But Posnanski also speaks of the great need for games in the long run to maintain our contact with joy and togetherness and self.

Music and the arts contain many of the same ingredients, the same magic. More so than words -- and words can be extremely powerful in times of strife -- music has the power to warm the heart and calm the soul. This has been proven time and countless time again. From the anguished melancholy of the fourth movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, to the exaltation of the finale of Beethoven's Third Symphony, classical music has for centuries been both a refuge and an inspiration for so many times of great angst.

American music, that which we Jazz Ambassadors honor and revere, has also been at the bedrock of our souls for the last one hundred years. There is an anguish in the Blues, a soul-wrenching anguish that most of us find useful, indeed necessary, to help us express emotions which are difficult to put into words, even to our own hearts and souls. And the unmitigated joy that flows from the mouths and horns and strings of jazz bands throughout the ages helps us find that joy which is momentarily buried or lost or missing, as in times like we are currently experiencing. It is the music, and the arts, and the literature of all kinds, in which we can find those things our souls need and desire when our brains and emotions are on overload.

America is in deep crisis, and many aspects of our future are both bleak and unknown. Now, more than ever, as life's uncertainties bore down upon us, we must seek out and celebrate the joys and inspirations that music -- American Music -- can and does supply.

Don't forget, when times are dark, to dance and sing.

Even if the songs are anguished and tortured, don't forget to dance and sing.

For those songs will help us find ourselves, and express the feelings of our souls.

Jazz on, brothers and sisters.

I bid you peace.

RETURN TO OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2001 MAIN INDEX

© Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.






	Search our site:		John Leisenring Now Is the Time for Wisdom, Strength... and Music I am attempting to write this piece on September 12, 2001, one day after our country, and arguably the world, changed irrevocably and forever. I have spent more than 24 hours, along with all of you and most of mankind, experiencing the horror of the attacks on our nation. I am shocked, anguished and dismayed. I feel vulnerable and scared. I feel anger. I have cried. I have prayed. I cannot help but feel that our country has entered a phase of its history that will be unique. I believe, as with Pearl Harbor in 1941, but in so many ways unlike Pearl Harbor, that September 11, 2001 will be remembered throughout the future of America with the same revulsion and, hopefully, the same dedication as that awful day almost sixty years ago. With what both the short and long term future have in store for us, we will need wisdom and strength and faith. AND WE WILL NEED MUSIC! Sports journalist Joe Posnanski, writing in today's Kansas City Star, speaks of the foolishness of sport in times like these, and he is right. Games, at all levels and for the immediate future, have been cancelled. But Posnanski also speaks of the great need for games in the long run to maintain our contact with joy and togetherness and self. Music and the arts contain many of the same ingredients, the same magic. More so than words -- and words can be extremely powerful in times of strife -- music has the power to warm the heart and calm the soul. This has been proven time and countless time again. From the anguished melancholy of the fourth movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, to the exaltation of the finale of Beethoven's Third Symphony, classical music has for centuries been both a refuge and an inspiration for so many times of great angst. American music, that which we Jazz Ambassadors honor and revere, has also been at the bedrock of our souls for the last one hundred years. There is an anguish in the Blues, a soul-wrenching anguish that most of us find useful, indeed necessary, to help us express emotions which are difficult to put into words, even to our own hearts and souls. And the unmitigated joy that flows from the mouths and horns and strings of jazz bands throughout the ages helps us find that joy which is momentarily buried or lost or missing, as in times like we are currently experiencing. It is the music, and the arts, and the literature of all kinds, in which we can find those things our souls need and desire when our brains and emotions are on overload. America is in deep crisis, and many aspects of our future are both bleak and unknown. Now, more than ever, as life's uncertainties bore down upon us, we must seek out and celebrate the joys and inspirations that music -- American Music -- can and does supply. Don't forget, when times are dark, to dance and sing. Even if the songs are anguished and tortured, don't forget to dance and sing. For those songs will help us find ourselves, and express the feelings of our souls. Jazz on, brothers and sisters. I bid you peace. RETURN TO OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2001 MAIN INDEX © Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors 1996-2001. All rights reserved.