It’s a privilege to find meaning in the world around you.
Every year at my ensemble retreats, I ask everyone to bring a special object they can tell a story about. It’s a great prompt to get people sharing with each other, and we often learn a lot along the way.
One time I had a student who didn’t bring anything because, as he said, he wasn’t a “stuff person.” He had no attachment to any physical objects, but rather to people, to feelings, to pets.*
I respect that point of view – many of the things in my life are just things to be used. Tools. But every year, the percentage of “stuff” in my life that carries deep meaning ticks slightly up. It feels like grounding myself in my own story to have an attachment to physical objects.
I also find that musical works acquire added meaning as I work longer. It’s not just “Piece A,” it’s “Piece A,” that I remember performing on this day, with those people, having that emotion. When I program a piece again, I carry with me all the emotion, all the connections, of my previous experiences with the piece.
It’s a privilege to age, a privilege to build meaning in the world around you.
* one time I also had a student bring his pet rat as a special object. That warranted a new rule for all subsequent years.