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With Cheers and Sighs of Relief, 263 Students Receive Diplomas at Juilliard's 99th Commencement Ceremonies Skies were cloudy, but spirits soared at The Juilliard School's graduation ceremonies on May 21. Joining the class of 2004 to receive honorary doctorates were six distinguished artists: choreographer William Forsythe, jazz saxophonist Illinois Jacquet, film and stage actor Dame Judi Dench, pianist, teacher, and Juilliard professor emeritus Joseph Bloch, composer John Williams, and conductor James Conlon, who delivered this commencement address.
I'm greatly honored to be up here today with all of you graduating, and all of the new doctorates on my right. I really needed something good to happen this week. My ego took a great bashing a few days ago. I tell you this story because I think it is going to show how to put things in perspective. Last week I was conducting the National Symphony in Washington, at the Kennedy Center, and part of that program was dedicated to those composers I've been championing who lost their lives in the concentration camps, whom Dr. Polisi has just mentioned. On Sunday morning, I was waiting for my plane to take me to Cincinnati and I walked up the boarding area and asked, "Is it boarding yet?" And a man said, "No, not yet."
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| Alumnus James Conlon gave the commencement address. (Photo by Peter Schaaf) |
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Then he said, "Do you remember me?" I panicked and said, "To be honest, I don't." He said, "I interviewed you, oh, a long time ago, maybe 25 years, in the city where I was the head of the classical music radio station." I said, "Oh, that's lovely. What's your name?" He told me his name. His wife was there; she was bejeweled and had lovely hair. And she said, "Oh my God, it's Jimmy Conlon!" So I said hello to them and asked what they were doing, and he said they were waiting for the plane. Then he said to me, "I haven't seen you recently. Do you still conduct?" I said, "Yes, I do." Then he said, "Where, may I ask?" I said, "You know, it's possible we haven't seen each other; I've been away in Europe for 20 years, perhaps you don't …" He said, "Where do you conduct?" I said, "Paris?" He said, "Very nice." I asked where they were going, and they told me, and the conversation came to a halt and they still weren't boarding the plane. So I asked, "Do you live here?" "No, no—we're visiting." So I said, "Did you have a good time?" And they said, "Yeah, we had a great time. We saw museums and went to the Kennedy Center." I said, "Oh, that's great. What did you do at the Kennedy Center?" "Oh, we went to a concert last night." Well, I know there are usually several events going on at once at the Kennedy Center, so I asked, "What did you hear?" They said, "Oh, we went to hear the National Symphony." I said, "Gee … who was conducting?" He said, "I don't know—some guy we'd never heard of." I'll leave out the rest of the story; it went on from there…When it came time to write this commencement address, I decided to look for some lofty words, hoping to find something inspiring and interesting to all of you young and talented artists. So I started with Theodore Leschetizky, student of Carl Czerny, rival of Franz Liszt, pianist, composer, and teacher: "There is no life without art, and there is no art without life." True—but I can't just say that and sit down. It's a graduation. Why not say something about education?So I came up with John Dewey, American philosopher and educator: "Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself." I didn't think, on this great day, you wanted to hear that the rest of your life is more of the same. And I feel that life is the best education. So then, I turned to a man loved for his plain-spoken common sense, Harry Truman … who said just about the opposite: "It's what you learn after you know it all that counts." Now that you have completed your final exams, you are about to learn the things that really matter.
Then I tripped over the advice that one of my heroes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, gave his son about public speaking: "Be sincere. Be brief. Be seated." That quote was for me, and so I will try to be all three.I'll start with a little story about Christopher Columbus, which I love to tell, even though it may not even be true. It takes place on a long, hot afternoon in the court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.Columbus is with a group of courtiers, hanging around, waiting for the royal couple. To wile away the time, one bright individual suggests a game: Let's see who can make an egg stand up unaided. Everyone tries; everyone fails. After watching all of this, Columbus picks up the egg, smashes the large end of it, and sets the egg up to stand. And then everyone says, "Hey, wait a minute, that's not fair; we could have done that, too!" Columbus's answer was simple: "Yes—but you didn't."Yes, but you didn't. Thus, Columbus showed great qualities that led him to discover a New World: creativity, courage, and, I would add, persistence—the same qualities that each of you possess and have already demonstrated. For if you weren't creative, you would not be here today. You would not have been attracted to the arts—to music, to dance, and to theater.If you weren't courageous, you would not have started in the first place. You would not have been brave enough to confront all of the difficulties that accompany a choice to do something that very few others choose.If you weren't persistent, you would not be here to receive your degree. You would not have studied those grueling scales and arpeggios, gotten up in freezing weather to go do your barre exercises, or been willing to train your voice for rhetoric and your body, to be able to make them instruments of the theater.
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"If you weren’t courageous, you would not have started in the first place. You would not have been brave enough to confront all of the difficulties that accompany a choice to do something that very few others choose."
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Since I, too, went through all that, I know what those challenges are. And I know you have within you the qualities that you will need for the future.Thirty-two years ago, I sat where you do today—listening to a commencement address and waiting for my diploma. The fact that I cannot remember who spoke or what they said gave me the courage to address you today. I know I can say just about anything because, in fact, it makes very little difference. Your heads are already so full of rich and enriching ideas; they will last you a lifetime. And your life in the arts is just beginning.What distracted me during my graduation was fear. I don't remember feeling creative, courageous, or persistent. I do remember being frightened—frightened that there would not be work out there after school. Would I know what to do if opportunity called? Could I make a living? Could I live with myself if I failed, whatever that meant? I lived with personal demons of self-doubt and self-criticism.Not a great way to feel on graduation day at The Juilliard School. I hope you feel better today than I did then. But if you are asking yourself, what happens now? How do I get over the hurdles ahead? The answer is: the same way you have done it up until now. I'll tell you how I've gotten through the last 32 years since my graduation.One thing has kept me going: passion. The spark, the fuel, the fire, was a passionate love of music. It did not leave me in peace. I ate, drank, and slept music. I didn't know how to live without it. I did not want to live without it. I still feel the same way today. What I took for granted in 1972, I now realize is an artist's greatest gift: the gift of passion.I am going to assume that every one of you has been motivated by a passion for music, dance, or theater, if not all three. It will lead you, like Columbus, to discover new worlds, life, and culture—your own and that of others. It will lead you to other civilizations, and motivate you to civilize our own. It will take you to places in this life that today you cannot imagine—into communities of artists with whom you will make friendships built on a shared love of what you are doing. And through art, you will travel through time in a unique way.The benefits of this passion are infinite. Once found, it will not be necessary to encourage you to pursue it, just as it was not necessary to convince Romeo to love Juliet, Michelangelo to sculpt, Beethoven to compose, or Martha Graham to dance. Once you know that, and I sense that you do, you must accept it, and all that goes with it. And that is where creativity, courage, and persistence come in.
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"If your passion has led you to be an artist, accept the difficulties that come with it, and learn to love the work."
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Passion comes from the same Latin word as that for suffering. There is a sense of dissatisfaction in the life of an artist. There are many difficulties. So when you do not pass the audition, when someone else gets the part, when you are waiting on tables between callbacks, don't be discouraged. These difficulties are a part of every artist's life. It is the art of the creative spirit to make something out of nothing, the art of the courageous to summon strength, and the quality of persistence that ultimately makes the difference.When I feel discouraged, and feel the effort is not bringing the results I dream of, I think of Thomas Alva Edison's famous maxim: "Genius is 2 percent inspiration and 98 percent perspiration." When I don't feel like working, I think of Winston Churchill, who observed that civilization has been built on the work of the human race that—99 percent of the time—did not feel like doing that work. If your passion has led you to be an artist, accept the difficulties that come with it, and learn to love the work.Every time I start to complain, the following thought stops me. Of all the lucky people in this world, those of us making music, dance, or theater are the luckiest. Billions of people on our earth do not have enough to eat. Hundreds of millions work hard at jobs that, for them, have no personal meaning. How few there are, in comparison, who become professional artists, doing what they want to do, even if it means starving!Listen to your inner courage, not your fears. Be an ambassador. In your own country, be an ambassador for the arts. Remember we live in a country where, still, only a fraction of our population loves and enjoys the classical arts as we do. Show by your performance and your passion that these arts are not just for the happy few, but for everyone. Be an ambassador for the humanistic values that are the basis of our art, so that those in our country who have not experienced the importance of art will learn it from you.You are the third graduating class since the events of September 11, 2001. Realize that you and your work have the ability to transmit crucial humanizing messages, messages that need to be delivered. Be an ambassador when you work abroad. You represent our country in extremely troubled times. Remember that this country was founded on lofty principles, and it is very important now that each of us puts forward—through our art and through our beings—the best of ourselves, in a time when much of the world is in doubt about our devotion to those principles.Being an artist is more than making a career and is not merely a profession. It is a way of life. It is a privilege that brings great satisfactions and great torments. In a society obsessed with celebrity and celebrities, be clear within yourself about the difference between depth and superficiality, art and commerce.You should want an audience; every artist needs to communicate. Make money, become famous, if those are your goals—but don't forget that art is more than that. Having a job as a musician, dancer, or actor is fine, but making music, dancing, and acting is what it is really about. These activities are part of a spiritual force that can profoundly influence the lives of others.If there is any lesson that I would like to pass on to you, it is that the only lasting values to be found in the life of a professional artist are those to be found in the drama, the dance, and the music themselves, and in the constant love and giving which those art forms demand of us all.Competition is a reality in an artist's survival in the real world. Competition is the dynamo of our economic system, but when it comes to art, there is no such thing as best. The real competition should be within yourself, with your potential: the struggle to draw the best from your spiritual, intellectual, and emotional wealth. Therefore, it is a monumental waste of your talents and gifts to compete with your colleagues just to be better than them. Ultimately, there is only one competition that is important, and that is the race with time to realize your potential in one lifetime.Time to sum up. (As for me, perhaps not brief enough, but definitely sincere and soon to be seated.) So, No life without art—live your art. No art without life—live your life to the fullest. Life is education; education is life—keep learning! You are passing an important landmark today. Christopher Columbus didn't break that egg just to become the world's greatest egg-smasher; he did it to make a point. You didn't get this education just for a degree. You did it to put it to work for yourselves and for others. Continue to be creative, courageous, and persistent.Congratulations on all you have accomplished. Congratulations on all that you will accomplish. In the music and theater world, every country has its own way of saying "Good luck." For the Italians, it's "In bocca al lupo." For the Germans, "Toi Toi Toi" or "Hals und Beinbruch." For the French, "Merde." So, here goes in English: Break a leg; break an egg; go out and discover a new world and make the world we know a better one than it is today.
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