Shower epiphanies

It is of no great significance that I do most of my thinking in the shower. At about 10-15 minutes, they are fairly quick showers by most standards though perhaps not by the drought-ridden standards of the American Southwest. Still, my head clears in there. My thoughts and dreams and wishes and ambitions (sometimes) make themselves known. Today's shower was a clinker.

Here's what I want: 
I want an ensemble that is not just a Reed Trio, or a Bassoon Quartet, or a Wind Quintet. No! I want an ensemble that is entirely new to Tucson. Something that transcends these boundaries of composition and tradition to create something new (again, to Tucson) and surprising! Something where the audience isn't always sure what it's going to find but always knows it is going to find at least some little morsel of wonderful. Always beautiful, moving music. And no, I don't mean always moving beautiful classical music.. No! All music. Whether we stodgy classically-trained musicians like it or not, popular music is here to stay. It is what this generation listens to and loves, myself included. It is not the enemy and it does not need to replace the greatness that came before. It is up to us to transform, to adjust, to makeover. To make this genre part of our own traditional identities in a way that still adheres to our own taste and creative standards but invites these lost generations back. AND, it is up to us to make our music, the music we've spent years studying and refining and loving and touting, part of today's musical landscape in ways it just has not been. More innovation, more shattering of those boundaries we so love to enforce in our halls and performances. Today is all about the removal of boundaries and obstacles and the music scene, all of the music scene and not just the industry, needs to be a part of that.

Maybe my next shower will show me HOW.