Editorial Mention In Vol 22, No 8 of

In Tune Monthly

Recently, I’d been noting that the media and many of my contacts had become consumed with changes in economics, politics and society at large, expressing more upset than usual over a perceived lack of influence on things, when the stock market plunged and the phone rang.

It was my old friend and colleague Rick Drumm (former president of Vic Firth, D’Addario and now a successful management consultant) who I don’t hear from very often, reminding me of a lunch we had in the fall of 2008. Lehman Brothers was collapsing, and in a café ringed with TVs that were usually tuned to sports, I was instead watching each of the news channels tracking the crashing Dow. Rick, however, was calmly eating his turkey club while observing my countenance clearly broadcasting dismay at having already envisioned the financial and business calamity that was to come. Increasingly worried about the future of my publishing business, and curious as to why this wise, music industry sage was not similarly aghast due to the current events, I asked, “what can we do about all of this?” He sat up a bit, stuck his arms out straight and then separated them as to draw an imaginary circle around his body. “I only worry about what I can touch,” he said with a smile.

In 1913, Gandhi purportedly said, “Be the change you seek in the world,” or words to that effect. Gandhi and Drumm (I can already hear Rick laughing when he reads my comparison), were kind of saying the same thing. Control what you can control. When the
market crashes – as it has a number of times since our “Lehman lunch,” – Rick calls to chide me for worrying beyond the Drumm Circle, which he well knows I am prone to do.

This then is my call to you. Congratulations on seeing the school year to its close. I hope you’ll use the coming months to tune your program and make it as relevant, musically inclusive, and available to the diversity of students you will undoubtedly face in the fall. Be the change. Worry only about what you can touch and enjoy a well-deserved summer break.