As all the Heavens were a Bell,And Being, but an Ear…
— Emily Dickinson
“Listening is something you receive,” my conducting teacher said, recalling this poem as I practiced conducting the beginning of Wagner’s Prelude from Tristan und Isolde. Fitting, now that I spend much of my days listening to and learning to create music. Fitting, too, that I am now rereading Difficult Conversations.
Thank you to Mark for inspiring this post.