...from the Music Director, Benjamin Simon

Don't try to understand it. Just try to feel it.
Dizzy Gillespie

If I were PACO-age again, and choosing a career, I might wish to be a neuro-scientist. How the brain works is a puzzle that might be solved in this generation. Investigations at the molecular level are yielding fascinating results, and none more interesting (to me) than how we perceive music. The connections between music and math have been well documented, but music resonates deeply within the emotional centers of the brain as well. "All fingers, no heart" is a classic put-down of an accomplished musician whose playing leaves you "cold"... yet to reach the point of being able to communicate deep feelings with your playing comes only after years of dedicated study in the myriad technical demands of your instrument.

I find it fascinating that recent studies show that music activates more parts of your brain than anything else. That might be one reason why playing a musical instrument is one of the most difficult, and rewarding, of human activities. And why listening to great music can be so deeply pleasurable.

So when musicians are "playing", their brains are hard at work. Do we understand every step in the process that goes from reading a black dot on a page of music paper to the graceful arm movement that sends a sound flying from the instrument? Not yet. But we've been feeling it all along.

Come experience the passion of youth, and the joy of music-making for yourself.

PACO now has its own fan page on Facebook. Check it out.