NOEMAYA

As the symphony is a whole emerging from the harmonious cooperation of parts each serving its proper function within the creative process, the violin’s melody is itself another whole emerging from the harmonious cooperation of the body parts of the violinist. The violinist is itself an orchestra. It is false to see the musician simply as the person playing an instrument: In the mastered musician the instrument has become an extension of his body, a new organ which he uses to dance with the orchestra.

The reciprocal relationship between the musician and the orchestra can be seen as one being the enlarged image of the other. It is in virtue of the cooperative reciprocity between the one and its image that the creative process leads to fruition. The conductor is the central figure through whom the various rays of melody are harmoniously reflected into the focal point, the symphony. The macrocosm and the microcosm being reflections of one another in different scales must coexist for the production of an ordered and functioning whole.

The conductor projects the concealed composer into the orchestra making him present through his work. I the same fashion the saint or the prophet, too, is an agent through which the Godhead is reincarnated onto the stage of our lives reminding us of the underlying unity and purpose of this orchestra, that is to see the other as an extension of our own bodies, and hence to love the neighbor as we love ourselves.

Where everyone wants to become the conductor or the soloist no orchestra can take shape and no symphony can be heard. The personal interests and benefits of the parts must be subordinated to the function and beauty of whole. The success of an orchestra is guaranteed only through the selfless tyranny of the conductor.