Betsy shares the impact of Music for People and David Darling on her musical life, helping her play music with others, strengthening her voice in the world and sharing her creative talents through her painting and in improvised music concerts.
Betsy Bevan: My name is Betsy Bevan and I’ve been with Music for People since about 1990. Music for People and David Darling has given me the opportunity to strengthen my voice in the world.
David and Music for People really taught me how to relate to people more and how to play music with people. So I’ve been composing since I was a child, since 9 years old, but it was always me more alone at the piano since I didn’t know how to play with people, and now I do. And I was quite shy and introverted, and now I’m not. Now I play concerts. I improvise with my colleagues. I feel like I’m doing my life purpose. Music for People has helped lift me to the point where I could do more my life purpose. Which for me is sharing the beauty and the joy of my creative life — which is through painting and through composing and improvising, and now I can share it out.
So I do concerts every year. This is our 10th anniversary of me performing original music with an Indian flautist, an African kora player and me on grand piano to Rumi’s poetry. I always feel so much love when I’m playing and afterwards so it’s in the spirit of spiritual practice. I’m a long time Zen meditator so to blend the meditation with spiritual words — poetry — and original music and world music is part of my life purpose. People after they see my paintings and after they hear the music we’ve created together, or my music personally through other concerts that I give of my original music, they feel joyful and lifted up like I do. I couldn’t have done that without Music for People.