An Offer

We spent over two hours rehearsing Schubert's 4th Symphony this afternoon with a new conductor.  We reached the double bar of the final movement 30 minutes before the end of our scheduled time, and it seemed as if we had finished our work for the day.  Then he looked at us and gently asked, "Would you like to play beautiful piece?"  Sleepy, gloomy, rainy, late-start day that it was, but how could we say no to such an offer?  The chance to rehearse longer, to make more beautiful music with one another.  I felt like Shinichi Suzuki was in the room, enticing 4 year olds to love practicing for hours.  Idealism incarnate.  Another opportunity to learn from yet another way of leading.