International Music Day
Cellist Marcin Zdunik’s message
On October 1 we celebrate the International Music Day.
This holiday reminds us each year of the extraordinary power of music, capable of connecting people across borders and cultures.
Traditionally, on this day the National Institute of Music and Dance publishes a message prepared by an outstanding figure from the world of music. This year, the author is Marcin Zdunik – an eminent cellist, soloist, and chamber musician:
What a blessing it is that God has given us music!
Music is an extraordinary language of communication between people. The sender — the artist — clothes very specific ideas and thoughts in sounds, while the listener interprets those same sounds as a completely different message. Yet, in this multitude of meanings there is no contradiction or misunderstanding. In the world of sounds, we operate with a symbolic, subjective code which is, to a large extent, universal — understood by people of different cultures and languages. On the other hand, each of us deciphers this code with our own unique “machine” — our sensitivity. That is why we all understand music, though each in a different way.
The longer I am involved in music, the more fascinated I become by its nature. Much has already been written about its extraordinary power, and further works will surely follow in time. Here, however, I would like to recall just one aspect of this immeasurable force. In these turbulent times, when extremely polarized views in society provide the backdrop for an increasingly unstable international situation, music has the remarkable ability to enable us to empathize. Even if, behind the veil of the same harmonies, rhythms and melodies, everyone perceives different concrete images, the very process of being together in music will unite us in a special way.
At the heart of this phenomenon lies, I believe, our trust in the music we experience and our childlike readiness to surrender to it. We open ourselves to the influence of the world of sounds, allowing it to penetrate our emotions, our most personal space. In this trust, we are all together, and it resembles a unique spiritual mystery. Thus, music becomes a tool for building bridges of mutual understanding and empathy among people.
On the occasion of the International Music Day, I wish all creators and lovers of the world of sounds many beautiful experiences of such shared empathy. May music allow us to share what is most precious within us.
Marcin Zdunik
