Life is not a bagel
May 23rd, 2020
“Life is not a bagel.” It’s the very famous mantra that one might hear in a lesson or in a studio class from our beloved mentor and teacher, Maestro Yehuda Gilad. But what does it mean, or what does it truly mean? To be completely honest with you, maybe I don’t truly know what it means despite having studied with Maestro Gilad for five years.
First, what is a bagel? A bagel most simply is seen as a round shaped ring of bread. It is very versatile in its uses in many different types of dishes, but the simplicity of it is what makes it the bagel. As defined by Ed Levine of the New York Times, “A bagel is a round bread made of simple, elegant ingredients: high-gluten flour, salt, water, yeast and malt. Its dough is boiled, then baked, and the result should be a rich caramel color; it should not be pale and blond. A bagel should weigh four ounces or less and should make a slight cracking sound when you bite into it instead of a whoosh. A bagel should be eaten warm and, ideally, should be no more than four or five hours old when consumed. All else is not a bagel.”
And in all of our lessons what he could be saying is: life isn’t always simple or straightforward. There isn’t always a direct path, and sometimes you will have to do things you don’t want to do for the betterment of your career, or maybe just simply pay your dues, so to speak. Sometimes you have to play in wind ensemble at school. Sometimes you’ll have to play in your youth orchestra with weaker players or with colleagues whose personalities rub you the wrong way. Or other times you’ll have to take the job wherever the work is even if it’s not where you would like to end up. Perhaps more relatable for the orchestra players among us, sometimes we all have to learn and perform repertoire that we don’t want to or think is ridiculous or seemingly not music, but whether we like it or not, that is the nature of being a performing artist. Art is in the eye of the beholder and as musicians we cannot discriminate if we wish to ensure the viability of our artform.
If we take these lessons and apply them to the current pandemic situation, I think it’d definitely be safe to say that life is definitely not a bagel. We are all finding our way in this unprecedented situation, and each of us has our own personal way of defining, coping, and adapting to what the new normal might be. But all of us here at Clarinet M@estro truly believe that music is what connects us and what pulls us through. Our job as performers and teachers is to connect humanity and inspire each other. We are all in this together, and if we as teachers and musicians can motivate and bring humanity to those who are aspiring to be musicians and even those who might not support us, we hopefully will be doing our little part to better our world and preserving our profession for future generations.
Maestro Gilad, however, is always one to keep you on your toes. Maybe just when you may think you understand the meaning and usage of “Life is not a bagel,” he will counter with, “But sometimes, life is a bagel.” And as Ari Weinzwig from The Atlantic writes, “Bagels, it turns out, are very much a bread thread that pulls through hard times, dreams, visions, organizational development, good luck, and good food.” We as humans are resilient by nature and as long as we stay connected to our humanity, bagels or no bagels we will get through it stronger.
Faculty at Clarinet M@estro
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2009/03/the-secret-history-of-bagels/6928/
https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/31/dining/was-life-better-when-bagels-were-smaller.html