Why do YOU make music?

Here is something I found links to from Greg Sandow's website [Fascinating story about Lara Downes's "13 Ways of Looking at the Goldberg." [Trivia--not so trivial actually: The title of her CD is a pun based on... What and Whom?]

Here is Lara Downes's answer to the question:

Why do I make music?

Because music is my voice in the world. I don’t know a better way to open ears, hearts and minds, to break down borders and barriers, and to preserve a space for beauty in our noisy, chaotic world.

Because it's a new day. It's a thrilling time to be making music for new audiences, in new ways, in new spaces, using new perspectives, references and technologies to expand the possibilities of the concert experience - to make that experience, itself, into a new kind of art.

Because I want my audiences to find new ways to hear music, think about music, and talk about music.

Because music tells stories. I discover and share those stories with my audiences so that the music can resonate with your experiences of the world around you and the world of your own imagination.

Because I love performing, in a glamorous concert hall, a club, or a 3rd-grade classroom. I love the electricity, the give and take of energy in the room. I love the exhilarating, exhausting feeling of playing my heart out, and the rush when an audience jumps to its feet at the end. I love the element of danger, and the high of a great performance. I love walking out of the stage door late at night, tired and hungry, knowing I’m going to do it all again tomorrow.

Because where I want to be is out here on the front lines making the world safe for classical music, one note at a time. Whether I’m at home in my studio or out on the road, packing or unpacking, doing my scales or doing my laundry, day in and day out, my life is a life in music.