Rudolf Serkin
One evening at the Marlboro Music Festival, a young pianist was struggling with a difficult passage from a Beethoven sonata. Rudolf Serkin, already a legendary musician, quietly walked over and sat beside him. Instead of offering a lecture, he simply said, “Let’s work on this together.” He played the passage with such warmth and clarity that the student was mesmerized. Then, with a gentle smile, Serkin added, “Music is like life—you never stop learning.”
Despite his fame, Serkin never saw himself as above anyone else. At Marlboro, he stood in the cafeteria line like everyone, carried his own suitcase, and stayed up late discussing music with students. After a stunning concert at Carnegie Hall, a fan once told him, “Maestro, your performance was divine!” Serkin humbly shook his head and replied, “Ah, but the music—it is always greater than we are.”
His dedication, humility, and love for music remain his true legacy.
Take Heart, Your Mistakes Make You More Valuable
“If milk is wasted, it becomes yogurt.
Yogurt is more valuable than milk.
If it gets any worse, it becomes cheese.
Cheese is more valuable than yogurt and milk.
And if grape juice turns sour, it turns into wine, which is even more expensive than grape juice.
You’re not bad because you made mistakes. Mistakes are experiences that make you more valuable as a person.
Christopher Columbus made a navigation error that led him to discover America.
Alexander Fleming’s mistake led him to invent penicillin.
Don’t let your mistakes depress you. It’s not practice that makes perfect. It’s the mistakes we learn from that make perfect!”
Quote of the Day
“It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.” – Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Philosopher, Statesman, Dramatist (5 BC – 65 AD)
Quote of the Day
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing: It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” – Voltaire, Philosopher (1694 – 1778)
Quote of the Day
“A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.” – Wade Boggs, Athlete (born 1958)
Quote of The Day
“Art, freedom and creativity will change society faster than politics.” – Victor Pinchuk, Businessman and Philanthropist (born 1960)
Quote of the Day
“A little more persistence, a little more effort, and what seemed hopeless failure may turn to glorious success.” – Elbert Hubbard, Author (1856 – 1915)
Quote of the Day
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” – George Bernard Shaw, Dramatist (1856 – 1950)
The Joy Of Missing Out
