Soul, Biology and the Symphony

This weekend I experienced one of the finest, critically acclaimed symphonies and symphonic choirs in the United States, the Oregon Symphony, directed by Carlos Kalmar. OrSymphony.org .  This was a rehearsal performance which allows you to enjoy the relaxed interplay of the performers and learn about how subtle changes in how a piece is played can dramatically change the "color" or experience of what you hear.  It was amazing, and soul filling and something I am still experiencing with joy as I replay the event in my mind.  They played the exquisite Haydn's Creation featuring the lovely soprano, Christine Brandes.

This is not the performance I experienced; it is another performance of Haydn's Creation

As I looked around at the audience I saw a homogenous group of elders.  There was no mix of generations enjoying this amazing cultural event.  Our symphonies and ballets, our museums are struggling to stay viable as our public funding goes to corporate tax breaks and the pentagon, and the middle class income is stretched to cover even basic living expenses.  Our public schools have had to eliminate music and art programs so our children learn less of the art and literature that is their cultural heritage.

When I was young my mother took me to the ballet and I experienced a thrill in my soul like I had never before.  On sweet rainy afternoons she and I would sit together on the couch and listen to classical recordings of Sibelieus and Beethoven and The Grand Canyon Suite.  Did I love the symphony yesterday because I have sweet memories of these cultural experiences?  Is my love of this music because my mother exposed me to this kind of soul food when I was young?  What will happen if, as a result of diminished public funding of the arts and art classes in public education  all but the most privileged of our children are prevented from experiencing and understanding the deep beauty of their cultural heritage? What will happen if our public museums and libraries close their doors for lack of funding?

So, thinking about this flips me into all the reading I've been doing about brain development.  I know... sadly, this is how my brain works.  I've been warned that if I use the phrase "brain development" I risk a quick click away from my story by my readers.  But really, doesn't the idea that the structure of your brain changes with your experiences just rivet you?  And isn't it so fascinating to know that your mind records patterns of repeated experiences as important and worthy of hard wiring into the brain structure?  And don't you want to know that the neural pathways that are no longer activated by your experiences will chemically wash away to be recycled into new pathways?  In other words, "Use it or lose it"?  If on a grand scale, culture works in the same way, will we lose the things that deepen our human experience if we allow corporate media to dominate our cultural experience?  What kind of a mind will our modern culture create?