Robert Gupta, violinist with the LA Philharmonic, on the essence of music and art, told through a violin lesson he once gave to a schizophrenic musician:
This is the very essence of art. This is the very reason we make music. We take something that exists within all of us at our very fundamental core — our emotions. And through our artistic lens, through our creativity, we’re able to shape those emotions into reality. And the reality of that expression reaches all of us. And moves us, inspires, and unites us. (4:35)
He then went on to play “something I shamelessly stole from cellists,” his own transcription of the prelude from Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1. (6:30) This piece was, nine years ago, the reason I — one evening without any training — forego reason and began playing the cello. (In this case, there was an available, rentable cello across the street in the local music store.) When something moves you, shape it into reality.
