There have been a few times in my life when I have completed some creative effort, and the thought has popped into my head that "Now I can die". It's not really morbid, I don't think, but a practical response to knowing that I have used the gifts that I have been born with and cultivated. I've had this thought in response to things that I have done in art and interior design, and now in music. I never imagined that I would play Beethoven's Sonata no. 17 in d minor, otherwise known as "The Tempest". But tackle it I did, after my piano teacher Kathi Kurtzman made the suggestion. I may as well have tried to climb Everest, but with her as my sherpa, I was bound to succeed.
It was a great accomplishment for me, because when I hear beautiful music, I want to participate more actively than a spectator, or passive audience. If I can play even a semblance of the magic of music, I feel fulfilled.
Kathi Kurtzman, has been my piano teacher for many years. I started my daughter Emily with her when Emily was 5. I didn't think that we could afford for both of us to take lessons, so I dutifully sat in on her lessons, fingers itching. When Emily broke her arm at the age of 8, I couldn't help but think of who would take her place at her lessons? Obviously, I happily filled the spot. When Emily's arm recovered, I decided we could afford NOT for us both to take lessons. The rest is history.
"I do not want to die...until I have faithfully made the most of my talent and cultivated the seed that was placed in me until the last small twig has grown".
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