Creative Strings Podcast With Violinist Christian Howes: Exploring Intersections Between Creativity, Music Education, String

Remember when classical violinist Joshua Bell played in the subway for 45 minutes and made $32? The author of the story raised questions about artistic context and the loss of appreciation for beauty in modern life. A similar experiment was conducted and written about almost 100 years ago, with a similar focus, and here’s my completely different take on the whole thing: Live music makes a huge difference for people on the street, in hospitals, in communities, in prisons, in war zones, refugee camps, and in all kinds of non traditional venues. Sharing music directly, without filters, is important for musicians to experience, regardless of the so-called malaise of a Netflix-addicted society. Our classical training may make us lose sight as musicians of the transforming effect we can have on people playing music live, even without the accoutrements of air conditioned venues, publicists, sheet music, prepared music, and finely pressed tuxedos. I get excited thinking about the organic, communal aspects of shar