But this is not so. The need for spiritual expression is basic to human existence, like the need to eat and the need to learn. The arts, whether classical or experimental, whether from our culture or from others, provide an essential nourishment without which we are not living but merely surviving. Yehudi Menuhin tried to help people create and sustain this nourishment in every way he could. Menuhin, like the great cellist Pablo Casals, believed that music was not simply an exercise of talent to impress or even emotionally move an audience.
Music can be a force for making better human beings, a force for peace and life.
Unlike many people who are very famous, he had the capacity and willingness to relate to people without setting up barriers. He might have just a minute of his precious time for you, but could pay such complete and mindful attention in that minute that something significant could transpire. I came to him with an unconventional art form, with no credentials in the official music world, yet he was ready to provide support and encouragement that sustained me. And there were so many of us who owed him this kind of debt. Such debts, of course, cannot be paid back to the person who helped one.