Greetings from Athens. I came to Greece to give a recital at an academic conference on the small island of Spetses, and then to stay at an Airbnb with a Yamaha grand in Athens.
I started performing internationally in my teens. My first trip to Greece was in 1997. Back then, I was determined to see as much as of the world as I could, exploring every possible destination within my limited budget, disregarding my exhaustion, hunger, thirst, and the weather condition. But this time, I am realizing the things you start to see only when you pause, and hearing the sounds you can hear only when you are silent. I stop my hands from typing to look out from the patio, and I see that beyond the rows of buildings, we have the view of the sea and the mountains. How is Athens so quiet, disproportionately to its population density that reminds me of Hong Kong? The contrast enhances the feeling of its serenity from up here on the forth floor balcony.
“Coo-oo, Coo-oo.”
The doves sound the same as they did at my grandparents’ in Japan’s countryside during my summer visits as a child. Yesterday, at Lake Vouliagmeni outside of Athens, I started seeing a few finger-length black fish underneath the water surface only after starting at it for a few minutes. Then, after 5 minutes, schools of transparent fish the size of my fingernails, and after 10 minutes, their negotiations and compromises over various food chunks.
In the two years after the assassination of the former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, bloodshed over politics has been rampant around the world. Meanwhile, the news is full of unrest from international conflicts, climate crisis and genocides. What are we trying to accomplish? Where are we heading? The turbulence of our times induce anxiety that can move us to raise our voices, fists and act, at the very least to express our unhappiness with the directions we seem to be heading. At the same time, actions driven by desperation can become short-sighted, illogical, and counterproductive.
How can we achieve the right balance? I wonder if that’s how music, meditation and rest can contribute, helping us to achieve that perspective that allows us to keep our calm and sound logic to act effectively to cultivate the future that we envision for our future generations. Or am I trying to justify my distance from everything, as a pianist on a vacation in Athens?
I play Bach, and write every day, in between my exploration through the history and nature that this place has to offer, hoping to do what I can to contribute with a sense of pride.
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Thank you for this lovely and reflective post. Right now, another international concert pianist is hiking, rock-climbing, and taking photos of beautiful places, people, historical landmarks, and cultural traditions on an island off the cost of China. Each summer, he goes on a ten-day mission to rest and to be quiet with nature. He calls this his “vow of silence.” He walks and bicycles everywhere and I doubt there is a piano in sight. He explains that he needs this kind of time to replenish his soul, spirit, and mind. This is what he needs for his music. No, you are absolutely right about taking time to look at the views and to seek such rest and peace.
I just read these words moments ago from Pastor Bobby Schuller’s Daily Devotional based on this scripture: âFinally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable â if anything is excellent or praiseworthy â think about such things.â
â Philippians 4:8. Bobby follows this with these words: “Whenever you wake up, focus on what makes you excited. Put your focus on these things! Jesus shared in the gospel of Matthew 6:22,23, âThe eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!â He then concludes with this reminder: “Friend, are you interested in being a brightly lit house? Whenever you get up in the morning, do you want to be full of joy, energy, and excitement? Are you seeking the fullness of the Holy Spirit? Literally, your eyeballs are windows. Whether itâs what you focus on, what you see, or what you listen to, youâre a sponge that is taking it all in. Make sure you discipline your focus to be fixed on what is good with the help of the Holy Spirit.”
I am a retired community college instructor. The young man who lost his life and took the life of another over politics was the age of my students. He had his whole life ahead of him and was majoring in engineering. He was a bright young man who could have done good things in this world. Tragically, this culture’s obsession with guns, video games that glorify weapons, attacks, wounding, and killing, becomes for some youth their ultimately desired reality. When we raise children on cartoons, video games, and movies that glamorize violence, and they are not exposed to the beauty of nature or the wonders of God’s creations–or introduced to music or the creative arts, they become deprived of that which is true, noble, right, lovely, and admirable. When a culture raises sporting events and entertainment to the level of worship and having fun becomes a priority over education and spiritual development, we can expect this kind of moral decline. When politicians lower themselves to juvenile behavior and do not demonstrate civility, dignity, or respect for the offices they hold, what kind of message to they send to society and particularly to our youth?
Enjoy the beauty, the quiet peace, and the heritage of Greece as long as your stay allows. May the conference fill you with inspiration, news thoughts, and fresh ideas for your future concerts, travels, and master classes. Thank you again for your insights that are always right on point and illuminating. You are always the “lamp” for us and “the eyes of the world”–the salt and the light–reflected here and through your gloriously performed music.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment and kind wishes, Pamela.
Beautiful thoughts … and useful. Every year, with your comments, I learn that the cruise, I took, opened my eyes to one of my favorite needs, music, but not only the surface melodies but the meanings behind them. This, Makika taught me in a generous piece of her time, aboard a ship headed toward Greece,
with many Texans aboard, perhaps broadening our horizons in a more important way, than for what our eye saw from a deck over blue waters.
Thank you, Ione…they say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!
Makiko