Perhaps it is in opposition to doing well with music, but in some places and in some cases it has much more lasting significance.
Yesterday I played a concert of "seasonal music" with my consort (we play Medieval and Renaissance music) as a benefit for our town's soup kitchen. We played all kinds of buzzing instruments (crummhorns, cornamuses, dulcian), the whole range of recorders (contrabass to sopranino), strings (vielle, viola d'amore, bowed psaltery), and a bunch of percussion instruments. There was no other entertainment aside from watching us all switch instruments between pieces (it was not a historical demonstration or a scholarly lecture). Most of the music we played was unfamiliar to our audience, and all of it was really old.
The concert made the people in the audience very happy. It raised $1,500 (in free-will donations), and it allowed us to devote serious attention to rehearsing (we normally play together every week just for fun) and to really bond as an ensemble.
It is really rewarding to do good with music.
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This speaks to the heart of what we should be doing—reaching out to people and helping to bring beauty and warmth into their often cold and neglected worlds.
I'm very touched by the thought of playing at soup kitchens. I have several students that volunteer serving food, and now, it's time to serve the music too.
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