In order for a musician to confer onto the public the particular state of mind and sensations going through him, the kind or type of instrument that he's using is irrelevant. Herein lies the meaning of music itself. This is the attitude which I've always stood behind. Yet indeed some instruments were constructed and designed in such harmony with the universal essence of its maker that they are in-tune with the special frequencies and therefore better equipped to reach the desired effect.
An illustrative example is found in traditional Indian musical instruments, wherein one single stroke of a string suffices, to be overcome by the cosmic immaculateness of musical exhilaration. As a matter of course, the basis of an entire branch of science stemmed from this phenomenon one thousand years later, and we call it music therapy!
To reach that level of sound or frequency on the saxophone or on other western instruments is inordinately difficult and only possible with a great deal of practice.
Nevertheless the saxophone in the hands of a spiritually enlightened and musically mature musician, is an instrument whose vibrations are able to penetrate to the deepest crevices of the human soul. On that note, I am reminded of a quote from Richard Strauss, who longed for the ingenuity of Mozart and admired him thus: "For that which Mozart accomplishes with 12 instruments, I require nearly 80!"
In other words, while the mature and enlightened musicians need all of three notes in order to permeate the human soul, it is the case with the technically perfect and masterful yet spiritually immature musicians, that they always remain somewhere on the periphery, where the human system experiences the satisfaction of the superficial senses primarily through the ego... As a result the musical performance runs scarcely beyond a superficial level of presentation. The spiritual cognizance of the human being--without which no measure of musical maturity can be attained (if even the musician exhibits any such level of awareness at all)--falls then to the wayside and is effectively written off.
It is unfortunately the case that such musicians in the world of the music business veritably thrive, for, their performances can be much more easily harnessed and controlled. And nowadays absolutely everything in life is business and business is all about control!
Unfortunately nowadays it's the case that among musicians everything revolves around one's own self-interest and empty professionalism. Audiences are starving without knowing it. In my view, it is not only the music that comes across at a concert, but the penetrating energy that lies under the surface of the composition itself. The task of the artist is to awaken that power within. When it succeeds, a perfect unity between the interpreter and the audience comes through, wherein music's profound healing effect may unfold. Music ought to awaken in the person's consciousness, his/her spiritual potential. I strive to take this concept and achieve it in practice.
I myself have required an awful long time in order to come to terms with this sad fact. Through all the varied scholarships and advancements of support from various academies, among other institutions, which I have received, it had become possible for me to live in a kind of bubble which had very little in common with the world of the music business.
I ask myself if it is so in other branches that everything verily revolves all around one's self and self-interest as much as it does in the music world, yet I resolve to reconcile myself with this situation, that this is simply the time in which we are living, and that's just the way things are at present: "How can I market myself?" and "How to make money!?" are the preoccupations of the day.
In the end, the necessity in life leads me too, to this standpoint, that whether I like it or not, I, too, must market myself in this respect!
Among all the western composers it was Alexander Nikolajewitsch Skrjabin who managed to achieve the highest of consciousnesses. Yet his consciousness was so high that his body, that is, his nervous system, was simply not in the position to contain such channelizations of energy. Imagine that a 100 watt lightbulb is plugged into a 1000 watt outlet! Therein lies the reason that many enlightened musicians who have at one time experienced a direct connection with the source of musical energy, ultimately had to leave the world's stage at a very young age. Their physical bodies were not able to find synch with their spiritual ecstasy.
Inspired by works of Skrjabin's consciousness, I have composed a work myself for the saxophone and the piano entitled, 'The Awakening.' This aims to lead the audience on the basis of my own personal spiritual experiences in the journey of my soul, to the various cycles of the spiritual awakening.
I would like furthermore to give pause to honor the jazz genius Boško Petrović, after this true and colossal musician recently left us. I had the opportunity a few times, to take in his performance in Vienna. He was a musician who could say everything in just two notes. He was one who abstained from the musical ego that we all too often encounter on musical stages, with that peak moment of 'now I must smash the instrument and break it' consciousness. This proved to be a consequence of Petrović's authentic conception of musical performance as well as his musical maturity!
