Carol Ray

What is activism? It’s going deeper than we’ve ever gone before. I can’t wait to see the video of this concert! -ed.

A multi-media/musical event called “Flying Free: Music without Limits,” which I created and directed, was staged last Sunday at a small concert hall in Pittsfield, MA. I performed on a wonderful Steinway grand piano with women I teach from the Riverbrook Residence in Stockbridge. These women have disabilities that range from blindness to autism and Down’s syndrome (I’ve written about this in previous posts.) As they played, their words—in which they describe their experience of music—were projected on a screen for the audience.

The women and I performed improvised and semi-improvised duets. Some of them are only just beginning to play the piano; one woman who is blind is quite adept.  Regardless of the level of experience, each woman played with disarming authenticity, creativity and naturalness. The 60-70 people who attended witnessed something of revelatory beauty that went far beyond my own expectations and theirs.  What occurred, I believe, had the hallmarks of a new kind of art and aesthetics.

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