For our Simple Gifts performances, Paul John Rudoi shared a story of gratefulness for our audiences, especially the ones with important things to teach us.
“What are you grateful for? What comes to mind is likely different for each of us, but for me, I think of many interactions with audiences in the lobby after each show. It’s always so lovely to hear what folks appreciate about our performances and how the music reflects their own experience. That said, one of the greatest gifts an audience member ever gave me was some pointed feedback that was initially hard to hear.
Back in 2015, while performing in the Baltics, I mistakenly introduced Simple Gifts as a Quaker tune. After the performance, a man came up and told me, “You’ve lost all credibility! No one can or will trust anything you say ever again!”
After that, I will always remember that Simple Gifts is a Shaker tune, not a Quaker tune. I’ll remember what else I learned, that Shakers are an offshoot of Quakers focused on communal living. That like many other Shaker tunes, it stayed hidden within their communities until it flew into the public consciousness when Aaron Copland quoted it in his smash hit Appalachian Spring.
That from then on, the original context, a message of simple religious and cultural ideals, faded away in exchange for passing someone on the street who knows the tune, even if they don’t remember how they know it or the context of Simple Gifts.
That audience member was reminding me, in his own non-midwestern way, that I hadn’t learned enough about someone else’s culture until it was too late.
Was he one of the 4 remaining Shakers in 2015? Probably not, we were on a cruise ship after all. But he was right.
So all I needed, I guess, was to “lose all credibility” with one person in order to gain a deep and lasting appreciation for the care demanded of each of us when we represent another’s experience. And in the end, while I assume that audience member hasn’t attended a Cantus concert since, I can honestly say that I’m grateful for him.
Throughout Simple Gifts, we’ll be examining many different shades of gratitude. We hope you’ll join us in remembering the things you’re thankful for, as well.”
Read another of our stories of gratitude at the link below.
And there’s still time to join us for Simple Gifts online (Oct 23 – Nov 8) to hear more of our stories of gratitude paired with some of our favorite choral classics and newly beloved tunes.
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