My wife, Jan, gave up coffee. She is very focused.
But before she did that, for years I used to get up on the weekends to make her coffee for her and bring it to her in bed. I enjoyed that ritual. It was nice.
One morning, I woke up and said to her, "Honey, would you like your hot young stud to bring you your coffee?" Without missing a beat, or even opening her eyes yet, she replied, "No honey, I want you to do it."
Coffee and classical music are a lot alike. There's tons of both, and tons of it are really pretty good. Why did my wife want me to bring her her coffee when there is so much great coffee around? Well, first, because I was there. Second, it's nice to have someone you care about do something for you and to enjoy it together.
In other words, it wasn't just because the coffee was good.
Classical musicians for the most part produce music that has already been produced. And since everyone has access to every recording ever made, we won't entice anyone to listen simply by being good (although we aspire to be good in any case). We should be good, just like the rest, but we must give our listeners one more reason besides that to say, "I want you to do it."
But before she did that, for years I used to get up on the weekends to make her coffee for her and bring it to her in bed. I enjoyed that ritual. It was nice.
One morning, I woke up and said to her, "Honey, would you like your hot young stud to bring you your coffee?" Without missing a beat, or even opening her eyes yet, she replied, "No honey, I want you to do it."
Coffee and classical music are a lot alike. There's tons of both, and tons of it are really pretty good. Why did my wife want me to bring her her coffee when there is so much great coffee around? Well, first, because I was there. Second, it's nice to have someone you care about do something for you and to enjoy it together.
In other words, it wasn't just because the coffee was good.
Classical musicians for the most part produce music that has already been produced. And since everyone has access to every recording ever made, we won't entice anyone to listen simply by being good (although we aspire to be good in any case). We should be good, just like the rest, but we must give our listeners one more reason besides that to say, "I want you to do it."
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