CHANGES

This morning I woke up late, at 5 30  am, that was late for me...I must be worried about something, and I wonder if I slept late to avoid facing it?

What could it be?

These days I am devoting my life to what I have been doing for so many years, preparing productions, pontificating about opera, and trying not to be upset by the most difficult and unrewarding job of all show business: managing artists (i will elaborate on this later)…

I am in my apartment in Miami Beach, on my way to the kitchen to make  coffee, I see in the mirror a strange man I do not recognize, he looks at the same time puzzled and inquisitive, somewhere between maturity and the threshold of old age, his hair looks like it needs another life..

Then after a moment of hesitation I realize that it is I in the mirror of the hallway.  

I ask the man in the mirror :
" Another day of the same conflicts? The same challenges? The same headaches? "

And with a smile full of disdain he answers:
"It cannot be the same, it is never the same, things change, look at you, are you the same now as you were  30, 20, 10 even 5 years ago?"

I look in the mirror and he is right, I have changed, I am not the same man physically, emotionally and I function and behave differently...

The man in the mirror adds with some contempt:
" Do not fall for the coziness of being secure in the profession you have chosen for 50 years...so much has changed, you must adapt every day to new needs, new demands, new rules, new taste, new ways, new faces, new criteria, new humor, new sense of drama, new EVERYTHING."

Looking at him with a sense of superiority , I answer:
"How can we do that? How can the young generation constantly question those changes and be able to go on with it’s life? Until recently, relatively recently, the  taste and demands of people were practically the same. We knew what to do in order to please the great majority, we knew how to behave to be accepted or dismissed, we knew what to say, what to think, even what to dream... 

Yes, every generation brings changes and new adventures and new discoveries and new ways...
But now it seems, a generation lasts only five years or two years or two weeks before we are compelled to deal with NEW WAYS AND CHANGES  ."

I left the mirror and the stranger and went on alone with my thoughts, making the same old coffee as I have done for the past 30 years telling myself :
Culture, knowledge and acquisition of thoughts have been replaced by a culture of knowing how to push the right button. And every day the button changes and everybody is lost or devotes his time in learning which new button to push in order to stay connected with himself, another person, a group, society, or the world.
But it feels so good to be connected, to provide instant answers, to be part of the SOCIAL MEDIA. 

It is almost laughable if it was not dangerously sad.

Recently, I was in a convention and all I heard for three days were people trying to reinvent their profession by creating something NEW, by finding new ways, new approach, new audiences, new venues, new everything , rethinking everything in order to survive and in their mind to be creative and to help the profession... And change the CHANGES.

But do they realize that  today changes do not last more that a very short time because they are replaced immediately by other changes therefore becoming superficial and ineffectual.

Nobody talked about the QUALITY of the product, or the fact that most of the time what we offer is not good enough: it may be new or may be different but it’s not good enough...because it does not address  real  needs or answers to  serious questions, or touches our feelings, or is an explosion of visual beauty...

So no wonder  nobody wants it or not enough people want it.

Of course it happens sometimes but it’s like winning  the  lottery after  many attempts?
Until yesterday or 100 years ago, it took a long time to bring talent to a certain level of perfection and it was done through lots of study and committment ...

Today everybody assumes that he has the right, and even the duty to impart his knowledge or even  his superficial knowledge, his talent or his would be talent to the world because we have been spoiled by the idea that we deserve it, that we are worth it, that we are really amazing.

And too many people in charge believe this is the right way, to make changes even if the changes are poor.
And yes, they have the right to do so but no wonder it is not satisfying to their followers.
Changes should not only mean reinventing the wheel everyday, but improve the wheel, FINDING a new spoke in an existing wheel is a change... Especially in the professions where one is exposed to the public....

We have eliminated the notion of giving our full soul, of giving real technique, of including our accumulated life and knowledge and we only aim to make changes.

Yes, in order to continue to live, we have to create new ways IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT AND EVEN THE BASIC FUNCTION OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR but not to the detriment of perfectionism or real professionalism.

I can just imagine what Picasso or Cezanne would have thought if the streets of Paris or Barcelona were filled and overwhelmed with exhibitions of bad paintings and a price was charged for the admission , and if people were going once, twice and then never again, even to view real talent.
Yes I am sure many artists or pseudo artists were trying to sell their masterpieces to the crowds but they were not the majority.

Am I saying that we live in a world of impostors?

No,  these people are sincere and honest and they believe what they give is great and true to their times .. it is even worse because we have no notion of quality anymore.

Today everybody has the possibility  of doing anything and  make it public, and to broadcast his ideas or silly occupations, his knowledge or absence of knowledge to the entire world... 

The  great progress in human behavior is to be totally free to say what we know and feel to the world EVERY DAY.  But how can we find the real thing, the real talent, who to believe, who to follow, who to trust in the daily avalanche?

The duty of those in charge is to create an environment of professionalism, talent, knowledge, technique...
But do they always know all this? And how can they when they are flooded everyday by changes.

Picasso painted " les demoiselles d' Avignon " after being a figurative painter for years, he had assimilated the technique of painting, and expressed himself differently .
Why do, people believe today that they can go directly to the demoiselles d' Avignon before having digested the first stage?

Yes, we need to have inventors, precursors, changes, new attempts, new ways to grow, to advance as a Society, a culture and an art form... But these people are the chosen, not EVERYBODY has that opportunity, not everybody is  chosen and we cannot and should not base our art on Changes...

We have to learn, accumulate knowledge, experiences, feelings, then digest and try the changes and not go directly to them.

Yes we are definitely in a crisis of society, but I am optimistic, each crisis has an end and possible solutions.

 I JUST HOPE I WILL WITNESS IT