Most inspiring live workshop/lesson you've ever had?
General mountain dulcimer or music discussions
Sometimes the best teachers and lessons offered are extraordinary. One February, many years ago, I was driving back from a university hospital after visiting an elderly person in my congregation. It was very late and in the mountains of Northern New England temperature was well below freezing and a wind driven snowfall made driving almost impossible. As I got near to home I made a turn off a winding back road and saw something that caught my eye, (that in and of itself was a miracle)... an odd shape, covered by a thin blanket, sitting on top of a snow bank in a miserable storm at 1:00 am. I stopped my old beater of a car and pulled the blanket up and found a young woman who had decided that to die that night. I had heard about her and how she had sort of showed up in town and was homeless and suffering from some sort of mental issues that made her capable of some really bizarre and violent behavior. I took her to my office, made coffee and soup and after getting her to promise that she would not harm herself bought her a room at the one motel in town.
The next morning I picked her up at the motel and took her back to the office and did a bit of research. Prior to her illness she had been an accomplished Pianist with a slew of degree's from one of the finest universities in the deep South. As we talked she started loosing control of her emotions and went into the next room where an old banger of a piano had sat for Lord knows how long. Her agitation was increasing by leaps and bounds and trouble was on the horizon. This was where I got a real lesson in the power of music and one worth sharing.
Out of that rage and violent personality disorder came the most incredible music......Mozart, Chopin...you name it it was there and while she played the anger and pain inside her began to fade...and what was a violent rage filled affect gave way and joy began to make itself known even if only for a short time.
Here then was the lesson I learned from the "Teacher". Music when played with spirit and total absorption can still any storm, quiet any tempest and help heal a broken spirit. My teacher, I would learn had been rejected by family, friends and all sorts of social agencies because of her violent tendencies. At that time there were no mental health professionals willing to help.........we found her an apartment and she lived there for awhile. When her rage surfaced she would show up and play until it faded and off she would go.........one day she left town and where she is now I don't know. It has been over 30 years since I heard from her but I have always remembered those days and pray that some how she has been healed. Music heals and musicians can be technicians or healers......and the tools to heal are in your hands...when you play, dare to heal.