Throughout the summer, as they have been doing for the past 43 years, the greatest orchestra in the world is offering free concerts to the public. Last night, I saw the first of the “Concerts in the Parks” series in Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, presented by the New York Philharmonic. The weather was perfect for an outdoor concert.

The “Concerts in the Parks” series consists of eight dates throughout the summer, in venues across New York City and New Jersey, in which the New York Philharmonic presents at least two different programs. Last night, the program included Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture, three Sousa marches, and a surprise encore of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze. The concert was followed by a fireworks presentation.

If you’re looking for something free to do this summer—my only expenses were the $13 round trip New Jersey Transit train ticket to Manhattan from my office, $4 for the subway, and $10 for food and drink—consider taking a few friends or your family and attending one of these concerts. Bring a blanket to sit on and have a picnic before the concert begins, socialize with your friends and meet new people, enjoy the amazing music, and stay for the fireworks (at some of the venues).

By the way, if you have young children who are not quite ready to sit still for hours, this is a great way to expose them to excellent live music outside of the concert hall.

Here is the Philharmonic’s schedule for remaining free concerts this summer:

July 8: Richmond County Bank Ballpark, Staten Island
July 9: PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, New Jersey (I will be here)
July 10: Cunningham Park, Queens
July 11: Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx
July 12: Heckscher State Park, East Islip, Long Island
July 14: Prospect Park, Brooklyn
July 15: Central Park, Manhattan

If you make it to the free concert on July 9, look for me. As I usually do for the New Jersey summer concert each year, I’ll be volunteering/working for the Philharmonic before the concert begins.

New York Philharmonic Concerts in the Parks

One of my favorite musical “acts” is Blue Man Group. The Blue Man Group explores, with primitively modern musical instruments, society, detachment, and collectivism. You may remember them from Intel’s old Pentium commercials. You may also remember them from the television show Arrested Development, in which the character Tobias, played by David Cross, auditioned for the show and failed, later declaring, “I blue myself.” Blue Man Group has shows in New York City, Boston, Las Vegas, and a few other cities, as well as a touring rock show, with each show similar but not identical to the others.

I recently picked up the latest Blue Man Group CD and DVD combination package, How to Be a Megastar! and watched the program. It includes fantastic music and visual performances as I expected, but I am equally intrigued by the special features, including a documentary-style interview with the creators of Blue Man Group, Phil Stanton, Chris Wink, and Matt Goldman.

When originally devising the concept of the Blue Man, the creators struggled at first. These three percussionists, who were working day-jobs as caterers in New York City, were ready to abandon their vision. At the right time, they received a sign. While watching television, they came across an interview with an expert on religion and philosophy. In this interview, the expert was asked to summarize the prevailing philosophical thought across the world, to which he answered: “Follow your bliss.”

Stanton, Wink and Goldman then knew that despite their difficulties, they must continue to create their vision through completion, even if success would never come. Thankfully for them, success did come, and Blue Man Group is now a cultural phenomenon. But the interview made me think about this particular philosophical idea.

First of all, what is “bliss?” Wordnet defines the word’s most common sense: a state of extreme happiness. The true path is the path that leads you towards a state of extreme happiness. In fact, in the interview, the creators of Blue Man Group went on to say that the journey is more important than the destination.

Am I following my bliss? I’m not sure. There was a time when I thought I had my life planned out, but year by year, I allowed this path to change. I’m now quite far from what I thought I would be doing with my life by this point, the age of 32. My job is fine, but it’s not intellectually, emotionally, or artistically stimulating. I like writing for Consumerism Commentary, but I’m not a particularly good writer. I enjoy building online communities, and that may be my personal strength for the moment, but is it my “bliss?”

Who should follow this advice, to follow one’s bliss? Perhaps not everyone has the luxury of doing so. The world needs janitors, truck drivers, bus boys, and others who perform thankless jobs—the jobs children often don’t think of when they are asked what they’d like to be when they grow up. But then again, are we sure that these individuals are not following their bliss? Perhaps their “extreme happiness” is satisfied simply by providing for their family in any manner possible.

In the case of the creators of the Blue Man Group, they needed to complete their project before they could be satisfied. With success, it seems their project may never be complete; shows are revised, new tours are initiated, and new audiences are born constantly.

After leaving the arts world, I thought my goal would be to volunteer for causes about which I feel strongly or become a to philanthropist as much as my budget allows. It seems I may be too picky to do so at the level at which I would be making a difference, and in some cases, to do so at all. Even though the organization closest to meeting my requirements is strongly involved in the activity I wish to support, having been close to that organization with intimate knowledge of its administration, I’d prefer not to do business with them. Unfortunately, no other organization is similar.

Do you follow your bliss?

Existence of music education in one’s curriculum is related to higher incomes and more education later in life, according to a new study by Harris Interactive.

Three-quarters (75%) of American adults were involved in some type of music program while in school. Half (51%) were involved in chorus while 42 percent had some type of formal instrumental lessons. Just over one-third (35%) were in a school instrumental ensemble, such as an orchestra or band while 14 percent were part of an informal group, such as a garage band and 12 percent had formal vocal lessons.

Music education is associated with those who go on to higher education. In looking at what groups may have participated more in music, education shows the largest differences. Two-thirds (65%) of those with a high school education or less participated in music compared to four in five (81%) with some college education and 86 percent of those with a college education. The largest group to participate in music, however, are those with a post graduate education as almost nine in ten (88%) of this group participated while in school.

Music education is also associated with higher incomes. Three-quarters of people (74%) with household incomes of $34,999 or less and 72 percent of those with incomes of $35,000-$49,999 participated in music, compared to 83 percent of those with incomes of $150,000 or more.

The findings are interesting, but it’s important to note that the survey doesn’t prove a cause-and-effect relationship, just correlations between music education and higher education and between music education and higher income.

Music education was obviously a big part of my life, as my original career choice was to become a music teacher. Its funding often sits second chair to “core” subjects however, and I’m disappointed when untapped talent or interest can’t be explored because schools have no money for instruments.

Those with More Education and Higher Household Incomes are More Likely to Have Had Music Education [HarrisInteractive]