Write It Out

IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK about something, write it out.

I recently was asked to deliver the commencement address to a class of master’s graduates at VanderCook College of Music. The president is my old high school band director and in countless senses of the word, my mentor, even though ultimately I strayed from music and ended up in PR.    

He asked me to help the graduates, many of whom have already taught for several years, to remember why “what they do matters.” As a musician and grateful beneficiary of many wonderful music teachers, I thought this would be easy.

It took me a month to get it right. And in fact, I was editing the speech the morning of commencement. But that was a gift. Nothing forces you to identify, clarify and articulate in a meaningful way your own thoughts so much as the writing process.

I spoke for nearly 30 minutes. I told stories about old teachers and classmates. And I made rather impassioned pleas to the graduates to remember the essence of what attracted them to music in the first place, because the only thing that extinguishes burnout is the heat of the original flame.

In the end, my old band director hugged me and told me it was a homerun. I shook the hands of countless parents and graduates who told me it was the best commencement speech they’d ever heard. I found out a few days later the college had received calls and emails asking for a copy of my speech.

But I think I got more out of it than anyone else. The weeks of contemplation and formulation affirmed my passion for music and its teachers, and as usual, putting pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, taught me things I didn’t know I knew.

    

© 2006 John Armato