MUSIC AND ART “Te fist time 1 ever attended sonewelint veorkshop Ike dha my ltimate go SBE rae acces enh as 2 s0nswnte 0 "he exebity to teach someday Ft wen | earned that che Bacscret Boys tha recorded my song, “Back To Your Heart,” my wren ist ought ad noting C0 JP Mh how much money | would eam Although 1 sieht dhoughts oF ry ba accoune ec ar cid wn nil coe Treming that having a song on one Of he biggest-selling albums ofall ine would guar’ vce me a level of crediity 3 2 s08E"0°%S veacher that no one could ever take a¥=¥ 1 probably feel more cencered yeaa ales when fm ea er a than at any other time. Ac yesterday’ Washington, D.C. area workshons 1 g2¥¢ 8 six-hout presentation. When it #25 Vet T wax pically and mentally dines but at the same Pre exhilarated: 1 elt asf only £29 fifteen minutes had gone by: My fig back to Nasheille ase veheduted until 5:20 pm. the following day. | could arrange fora Tate checkout fom Meceland have alaxing day in hed watch tng TV oreatching up on MY Te rr coding. But here 1 wasin-ane of Re world’s most se ing and culturally ich cies: E89 idea rece up early the morning after the “rovkshop and rook a taxi to the abort 1 checked my bags, rented a cas, and Heed straight forthe White House. 7 hadn't been ADAG. since I was teenager and | was “hrilled to stand in front of the home where 80 wy of oe presidents ha lived the pase ee co much history had wnolded. Then 1 vrai he tworanite walk from the ‘ishington Monument co dhe Lance Memorial ‘Along the way 1 was especially ed by the haunting sept of he Korean War Memorial T exill had ewo hours let before mY flight, so 1 headed for the Smithsonian tnsttue’s National Gallery of Art Even Y fre soeing any of che works of ar NIE AF rama there, Twas aestuck bythe DEON, of he building tse Tooked ae painting? Tey dhe masters— Peas, Rembrandt eer Van Gog, Degas: Ttan—and even £7 Py alanlay of paintings by Leonardo “da Vinci. 1 was already having @ wonderful day 165Inside Songwriting when I wandered into the gallery featuring the Impressionist paintings. It was about to get even better. “The first painting thar I saw in the Impressionist Gallery was by one of my favorite antists, Georges Seurat. Ever since seeing Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical “Sunday in the Park with Geonge,” Seurat has had a very special place im my heart. The show explores issues {relate ro deeply —the price artists pay when they exchange a norinal life for one that’s dominated by the pursuit oftheir art; dealing with critics; funding our art; and the scary choice to venture into those uncharted territories where true originality lives, instead of safely following the trends. Combine these themes with extraordinary music and you can easily understand why this show is my favorite. But | digress. Back to the limpressionistyallery ‘As | wandered through the roms filled with some of the worlds greatest works by Monet, Manet, Pisano, and the others who helped define a new way of painting, { was transfixed by some of the pieces. [Hooked at them from across the room, and then up so ‘lose that I could see the brushstrokes. 1 was filled with feelings I couldn't define. I fele as though U could ery, but L wasn sad. Twas simply overflowing with emotion. I ad for- gotten that great art could evoke feelings of such intensity in me. Td felt like ehis once before—when I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. T don’t understand why those paintings brought up such powerful feelings, because Pm not very knowledgeable about art, rarely go to muscums or galeries, and am cer- tainly no connoisseur. There was no logical reason why these paintings should rouch something so deep within me, but their sheer beauty circumvented my consciousness to reach my soul—and it felt wonderful. This reminds me thar many years ago I hada friend with a bizare quirk. He was a huge fan of the singer Barbara Cook, who had made her mark on Broadway and, years later, on the concert stage. Every time my friend heard her sing a certain song, this macho, ex-military man would be reduced to blubbering tears. A mutual friend had fore- warned me; still, I could hardly believe it when I sat next to him at a concert. Cook's performance of that particular song hal amazing power over him ‘Music and art can have that kind of power. Songs can give us strength (“The Greatest Love of All), solidarity of purpose (*God Bless the U.S.A.”). They can help us to express grief (*Swing Low Sweet Chariot”) or joy (“Joy t0 the World"). They help us feel thae we're not alone by showing us that the singer and other listeners have felt ‘emotions similar to ours. T's not easy to express real emotions. Do it anyway. Dig deep within yourself 0 ‘access those feelings —and your listeners will feel them, too. Have the courage to write songs that are so beautiful chey make people ery. 166