What art does

By Ausra Motuzaite-Pinkeviciene (get free updates of new posts here)

​Have you been in a situation when you've been swept away from music, from any artistic activity for a while and all around you were your colleagues from completely different field, your co-workers who couldn't fully understand you?

Well, Giedre Juodzeviciute who studies math at Vilnius University found herself in this situation.

Here's what she wrote after our Unda Maris concert last Saturday:

"I'm very happy about this concert. For a few more days I could hear the sounds from the pieces that Mindaugas, Arnoldas and myself played. My family liked the concert very much, when they climbed to the organ balcony they were surprised by the size of the instrument. I can't believe how fast this year went by. How the organ changed my life? When I came to Vilnius, I lost all the chances to have a piano and to practice regularly. Little by little I started missing art so much because all around me was just math... But when I would to come to church to play, I could escape this, meet people who shared my interests and I also missed them. To not forget piano skills, finger technique, to feel a little anxiety when the tourists would be striding constantly, even to remember what does it mean to play a duet. All of this was an opportunity for me to grow further. I'm very  grateful to Vidas and Ausra for their support, care and advice! Looking forward to the new season and I'm going to start searching for new music to play over the summer. :)"

I hope you'll enjoy Giedre's performance of Hans Zimmer's Inception which incidentally she arranged for the organ herself directly from listening a video on YouTube. It was like a gigantic melodic dictation for her. If you're curious about the original, here it is too.

So anyway, I thought of sharing this with you today because I feel that art does something to our souls and even to our bodies which nothing else can replace.

What is it?

I can't really put it into words but it seems like we can only fully appreciate it's power over our lives when we've for some reason lost contact with it for a while.