Nils Lofgren Plays CMAS, December 8th, 2011

I am late in posting this because I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that one of my musical heroes  was willing to try my students, and me for that matter to produce a performance of his.  There needs to be a stronger word than "surreal" for this kind of thing.

First off, if you are reading this and do not yet have a copy of Nil's newest CD "Old SChool" you need to stop reading right now, and go pick up a copy via his website (www.nilslofgren.com) or iTunes or however you purchase new music.  Then come back and finish reading my prattling on here.  I'll wait a few moments for you to get back here...

Interestingly, it is now, a couple of days later, pretty easy for me to give you a sense of what the evening was like for CMAS (www.tinyurl.com/ArcadiaCMAS): imagine the greatest thing ever and then multiply it by about a billion.  No joke.  On every level Nils gave of himself in a manner that I cannot fully express.

The most obvious would be that one of the world's greatest musician played that night.  It was watching a true artist do something amazing.  It was sublime, inspiring, and just beautiful.  Nils plays with a kind of awareness to the larger musical line that most of us can only wish for.  Heck, I'm grateful I am even aware of it, forget that I will likely never attain that kind of musical bliss/wholeness/oneness myself.

But he is, after all, Nils Lofgren, so, to be fair, the notion that he was indescribably good, I know, is hardly a shock.  What ultimately made the entire experience stand out, and granted I have a severe bias here, is that he did something to push music education forward in a manner that I have never seen before.

I have talked in other posts about the project overall, so I will leave those details for you to review if you like, but I feel I must point out the realities of what Thursday night meant in terms of the educational value.

The truth is that I run a program that as great of a concept as it is, until someone like Nils was willing to come in and give my students real control over the end result of his performance, everything we have done has been fantastic, but, in truth, somewhat only theoretical.  Nils made it real.  He made it real like nothing has before.  There cannot be anymore discussions about weather or not the kind of music education CMAS offers is valid.  None. Nils ended that.  He, perhaps without realizing it, took a huge stand regarding music education - and education in general.  By allowing CMAS students to produce his performance he told the world that those students are doing something that really matters.  Matters enough that someone of hist stature wants to be a part of it.  He did not control the night - nor has he controlled any of the other aspects of this bigger project - he genuinely collaborated with CMAS.  To say this was a huge development does not even come close.

I does not matter that I have been pushing CMAS students forward for all these years.  I am quite proud of my role in all this, but as Nils and I have talked, I am a not even a has-been, I am a never-was, so my pushing only goes so far.  But Nils is a master.  A true living legend.  What he did created a true watershed moment.  He was already a musical hero of mine, now he has surpassed that.

I should mention that there will be several videos coming in the next couple of weeks/months stemming from this unprecedented collaboration between Nils and CMAS, but for now here are at least some photos from the night.

I will write more on all this soon.  Frankly, I am still in shock over the entire thing.  THANK YOU, NILS!!  YOU ARE THE BEST!!