Enterprise, Inspiration and Designer Violins

It's a funny thing being a classically trained violist, honed on concertos and International competitions, and at the same time, passionate about an enterprise that includes creating a line of string instruments, and having to evaluate my moves like a business person. Most of my career I considered the two paths - music and business - to be mutually exclusive.  As an artist I felt it important to share music without calculation. As a business person I must calculate the effects of my decisions on a monetary level and my ability to get the general public to respond positively to my business enterprises. I think the only way I can make sense of these opposing impulses is through spirituality and finding a way to create value in life.

Having a spiritually humanistic path in life, I am inclined to think the most certain road is one forged with hard work & planning plus illuminated with compassion. I suppose that may sound idealistic but the reason it makes sense to me is because for me, gain isn't just monetary, it's also the ability to create value, put simply, do some good through one's personal pursuits.

And so, when I originally conceived this concept for a line of instruments, starting with 'Designer Violins' that could stimulate children artistically on many levels, it was because I knew it was for perpetuating a musical evolution in the 21st century and had to begin with the way children are taught music.  Reading, not long ago, an article in the New York Times tracing the careers of several Juilliard graduates 10 years after graduating, there was a significant number that had to find jobs outside their musical training.  While some analysts might speculate this is because of the dwindling job market, such an attitude places zero responsibility on the artist to remedy the situation.  From my perspective this was primarily because their musical training didn't adequately prepare them to survive upon graduation and so they may have lacked the tools to adapt.

Mind you, my own path hasn't always been easy, despite some glowing moments and doors now opening. But I think there was something really great about my talent and life being forged amidst the flames of reality and having to hopefully turn into a diamond in the process. Because in the end, evolution, in it's cruelest Darwinian sense means we must adopt to survive. And compassion teaches me I must contribute something of value at the same time.

And so, as the business side of my thinking cap goes on, I fret over one design, vs. another, wonder if people will be open I am certain my pet project to create a line of children's and adults violins that delights children's hearts, and gives professionals the creative tools to be part of the huge landscape of possibilities, I'm quite certain our baby is right in rhythm with the universe.
The time has finally come.