Why do we perform?

Why do we perform? Why do we choose to become artists for life? I've been thinking about the purposes behind my actions, specifically when related to music.

There are many important answers: for the artwork itself, the music, for our communities, for God, to share creativity, communication, pleasure, the intensity and adrenaline of live performance, and so many reasons that are personal to each performer. But something that hit me hard this week was the topic of relationships.

I think the strongest element I can enjoy beyond the expression of art itself (maybe even surpassing it at times) is sharing music making with someone else. Building and working on something together, where you must rely on another person to make the complete picture, makes music an inherently team endeavor.

There are always new artists we get to play with, and this is equally part of the thrill. Playing just one concert with new colleagues can turn them into friends faster than most anything else I've experienced in life.

There is something magical about working for years with the same chamber music group. The established relationships where you know what each person is thinking...the feeling of being onstage together, with those lights...when you've been through every conceivable issue or crazy moment on stage. And then laughing or crying or even being deeply frustrated backstage afterwards. It becomes a secret history you share...or an epic inside joke; but it's much more than that. It's sitting down at every rehearsal and being excited to work with someone.

I've realized this is a huge motivator for me: to collaborate and make music with these critical, key friends in my life. And to weave something new and completely different every single time we start playing, whether it's backstage, onstage, in a tiny rehearsal space, in another state, or even another country. We keep coming back to our sound and our unique language.

This! Chamber music (I'm including orchestral and all formats as well) with those special people in our lives is so important. I bet you know the feeling--even if it's not in music--to place your total trust in someone's ability to be an amazing colleague and to deliver under pressure. Now add to that trust a feeling of brotherhood. A connection that is only formed from working, often under pressure, with someone else, to achieve a common, lofty goal.

I feel extremely lucky to have found a few of these people. And I hope every person reading this finds the same thing. Relationships make the experience of art more worthwhile. And I'll go one step further and say this world needs strong relationships and great music more than ever.