Guest Post: Chris Donnelly - All for Music's Sake
October 06 2010

This week, the Pianobabbler trades places with a fellow pianist, blogger and more. The next voice you hear will be Chris Donnelly's. The Pianobabbler will return to this space next posting. You can find the Pianobabbler this week at chrisdonnellymusic.com.

I dreamt that I woke up one day on rondavismusic.com.

That day is here.

My name is Chris Donnelly and I love Music.

For all my 27 years, Music has been in my life. I have been surrounded by people who love Music; they instilled this love in me bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece. So now, I love Music too!

The big pieces came from major contributors like Oscar Peterson, David Braid, Cathy Mitro, Lynda Metelsky, the University of Toronto, the Humber College Community Music School and of course, my mom, dad and my beautiful wife Natalie.

Smaller bits are harder to gauge, but they could include attending performances, practicing, listening to recordings, reading blogs, researching, studying and socializing - all for Music's sake

I'm constantly examining, assembling, reorganizing, and re-examining these bits and pieces, but the core idea never changes: I love Music!

Thus, I'm at Music's mercy.

I'm at Music's mercy because she tells me that I must share her with others. Sharing Music is my key to a fulfilling life. She strongly believes that if she's shared and preserved with other people, she can make our lives better.

Moreover, it doesn't matter how I share, as long as Music is being preserved in some form, in the minds of others. Hence, I perform, compose, educate, transcribe and blog - all for Music's sake.

Each of these activities communicates the same idea in bits and pieces. So I'm equally happy with each vehicle. It's my turn to instill love and joy - to pass the torch. That excites me.

So who is Chris Donnelly? Artist? Pianist? Performer? Composer? Educator? Writer? Blogger? I'm all of them, and none of them. Really, I can't differentiate between them. They're all serving Music!

Enter Ron Davis.

Ron and I are music-cousins; we share many common ancestors in a lineage of ideas.

. . . Darwyn Aitkin, David Saperton, Glenn Gould, Bach, Music, jazz, swing, Kapustin, classical, Canada, Toronto, piano, double-note scales, Douglas Hofstadter, GEB, performing, creating, learning, reading, writing, blogging, tweeting . . .

We're still very different, but those differences are rooted in a common truth: We love Music! When our paths converged two and a half years ago, we immediately unearthed this truth in each other. Our relationship has been growing ever since.

That's because sharing means growing; sharing ideas means new ideas. Even though we're different, those different ideas are still for the love of Music - for Music's sake.

So when Ron speaks, his voice is amplified and I listen intently. When I speak, my voice is amplified and Ron listens intently. I share with Ron; Ron shares with me.

Ron enriches my life with Music; I enrich Ron's life with Music. Together, Ron and I will enrich the lives of the people around us.

All for Music's sake!

I dreamt I woke up one day on rondavismusic.com. It was a good dream.

(Chris Donnelly loves music and blogs regularly at chrisdonnellymusic.com. Chris and Ron will be performing in a duo concert on January 20, 2011 at Paul Hahn Pianos in Toronto. Free admission. Details: paulhahn.com.)

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