Most of the past two days were spent reviewing a new CD of works by a dear musical friend. Our friendship came instantly and in depth straight from my ear to hers: I heard a particular cadence she had written in a particular work and remarked publicly on its beauty. She was in the back of the room (it was a symposium so it not rude to speak out), stood up and announced that that was her all-time favorite cadence and that she was told at the time that if she wrote cadences like that she would never have a career as a composer.

She has had an illustrious career. But even more important, she has never lost that spark of personal commitment that shone through that cadence. That moment of musical recognition has become a deep mutual trust.

We understand one another through the medium of sound. It is amazing that it is so deeply personal and that it means so much to each of us.