To accept one’s past – one’s history – is not the same thing as drowning in it; it is learning how to use it. An invented past can never be used; it cracks and crumbles under the pressures of life like clay in a season of drought.
“I played a solo concert a couple of years ago in Champaign Urbana, Illinois, and after there was discussion with the audience. Somebody asked, why do you play music like that? It wasn’t confrontational; it was simply a question of why. I’d never thought about it, but my answer came very quickly: I do it because I learn. The person then said, what do you learn? I said I didn’t know, but I know I learn something every time. Sometimes it’s about me, sometimes it’s about the music, and sometimes it’s about something else – but it’s always a revelation.”
Joe Giardullo