(from a signed Dave Brubeck letter I have)
July 27, 1988
Dear Pat,
Thank you for your letter. It is very difficult to give someone else advice, because I believe, in the end, one makes choices not from heeding other people’s advice, but from listening to one’s own inner voice. So, the best advice I can give to an aspiring musician, or to someone else for that matter, is to try to know yourself. The life of a musician is not always a rewarding one in terms of money earned, or social position, or family life, so to be a musician means lifelong dedication to music.
Often people ask me why I chose to be a musician. My answer is “I had no choice”. In other words, it has been as far back as I can remember and will be until I die, as integral a part of my life as breathing. I hope my comments will help you.
Yours sincerely.
Dave Brubeck
…………………………….
“Know thyself”–words in a temple in Delphi
“To thine own self be true.”–William Shakespeare, Hamlet
(posted in memory of the great jazz innovator-pianist-composer, Dave Brubeck, 1920 -2012)