Mid-Week Pick-Me-Up
When it all comes together to make ‘great art’
Hi Friends,
I hope that you are having a good week. Here is a little mid-week pick-me-up…
Sometimes it all just comes together. The message… the feelings… the emotion… the song… the performance.
Last week during the TV broadcast of Wicked: One Wonderful Night–a celebration of the musical Wicked in advance of the release of the second film–the two stars, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, closed the show with a mash up of two songs from circa 1930, Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again. In introducing the songs, the two singers spoke about how Wicked “celebrates seeing the beauty in our differences and embraces every color of the rainbow”, and that “during these divided times we are never alone.” And this is what great music - great art, does. Reflect on the times. And… provide a sense of hope.
What made this performance so powerful (in my opinion) was that it brought up everything that we all seem to be feeling right now, and also what we are longing for. There was a touch of reflection (melancholy?), there was positivity, there was a sense of better days to come, and there was empowerment. There was everything that we needed and everything that we wanted.
This is great art.
This is what art is and should be.
This is art reflecting the times we are living in.
This is art reflecting our feelings and our fears and our desires and our needs.
This is art providing a sense of hope, especially when we are feeling mostly hopeless.
This is great art.
It really doesn’t get much better than this…. (And what a powerful performance by two powerhouse performers.) Enjoy!
The healing power of music…
Raymond Leone, MMT, MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist based in Northern Virginia and writes extensively about music therapy and music and wellness.
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