The Generation that Nearly Killed Music

 

 

There once was a promising people.

They birthed unconventional children

With oversized ears and craniums.

They were not only unusual.

 

These were a special generation.

For they birthed ordinary children

Into a special family of love;

They dedicated themselves to God.

 

These strange, extraordinary people

Enrolled their children from infancy

Into music master classes, and

Exposed their babes to the world’s greatest.

 

“Aaaah!” exclaimed the masters nonpareil

In the pure vowels of a trained voice,

“These bambinos were made for music!

Just look at their ears! Their brains! Their limbs!”

 

936 hours of class;

They learned musical complexities

That could rival physics equations.

Without fail, they acquired perfect pitch.

 

They denounced a hasty vibrato,

Discerned the best from the consummate,

Perceived a string’s every overtone,

And named a piece with one measure played.

 

These strange ones, given every blessing

From God, parents, and education,

Turned out very unexpectedly.

For none of them became musicians.

 

They refused to sing and blushed to touch

The ivories or a violin.

They set their lips and squinted their eyes;

They quite avoided making music.

 

They would applaud and write rave reviews,

They would speak with all the convincing

Vocabulary of an expert.

They listened with full understanding.

 

 

They looked the part; nay, they talked the part.

They rejoiced to listen to the part;

They verily pretended the part.

Save that they demurred to play the part.

 

They had the music from long ago;

They had the instrument given them free;

They spoke the language with fluency;

Heart, they had not; action, they failed in.

 

Ergo, these children of such promise

Died a most ignominious death

Of wistfulness for wishes undone,

Scorned by the world for gifts ungiven.

 

The pieces were unlearned and unplayed.

The next children existed untaught.

Indeed, their generation accquired

More knowledge than any other.

 

But the passion for spreading music

Waned more than at any other time

Because they failed to play and have heart.

They saw; they knew—but they failed to do.

Artwork created by Mikaela.