Before launching into my feelings on a number of piano-lesson-related blog topics, I decided to look for someone else’s words to convey an overview of why music instruction is so important in the lives of both children and adults, no matter where along the spectrum they may be.  Karl Paulnak is a musical scholar who wrote and delivered a very moving speech for a class of incoming freshmen at the Boston Conservatory, where he serves as musical director.

The words Paulnak used and the logic with which he conveyed his feelings about music and its vital role on the world stage brings me back to center no matter how many times I read it.  “We live in a society that puts music in the ‘arts and entertainment’ section of the newspaper,” he said, “and serious music, the kind your kids are about to engage in, has absolutely nothing whatsoever to so with entertainment; in fact it’s the opposite of entertainment.”

Please be sure to read the rest of his speech here, and leave your comments below.  I look forward to expressing in words my feelings about the gift of music you are giving to yourself or your children and welcome topic suggestions from all of you.  Please be sure to share these with anyone who values the miracle of music and all it can convey.