Tell us how you met CARP.

I joined CARP in spring 1979 and was a full-time member for two and a half years. Our central figure, Rev. Chung Goo (Tiger) Park understood the power of the performing arts for witnessing and used it with great efficiency. There were several performing art groups: "Go Burst Band", "Sunburst", "International Folk Ballet", "Prime Force", "Blue Tuna Band", and "Front Group", the group I was working in. Tiger Park always encouraged us to practice more, to do better. Also we did a lot of fundraising because we were self-supporting. There were about 33 of us. Occasionally we performed together, but sometimes we split up and went to different campuses. It was a very exciting time with a lot of confrontation.

We were touring around the campuses all over the country: East Coast, West Coast, Boston, Atlanta, we played at CARP workshops in Colorado. At that time there was a huge debate on the campuses about America’s role in defeating communism. Especially with the situation in the South America: El Salvador, Nicaragua, Sandinistas, Ortega’s government was in power. Red Brigades, all these leftists groups were very active, promoting the communist view on history and life. I remember at the University of Madison in Wisconsin, which was extremely liberal at that time. We were playing a concert and people were throwing eggs at us, and I still have egg leftover on my electric piano. I wouldn’t wash it off because it is a momento of that time period.

One thing about music is that it is a great way to transcend many barriers that may superficially exist between people. Democrats, republicans, communists love music. So when we performed, people who may not have liked to associate with us came up and talked to us about why we were doing what we were doing. A lot of people came to workshops that way. I remember one concert we met a fellow who was so excited by the music we were playing that three weeks after the concert he decided to come out to Boulder, Colorado to participate in 21-day workshop up there. So it was a great way to open the doors.

By the time you joined CARP you were a musician al-ready. Where did you study music?

I studied music in Ohio State University and I worked professionally for many years to support my education through playing bands and doing musical work. So by the time I joined CARP I had already been involved in numerous projects. Since 1985 I have been the director of the New York City Symphony. The orchestra was founded in 1926, as an amateur orchestra, by Judge N. Prince, a municipal judge in New York City, and his son who was a violinist. In 1956 it became a professional ensemble. In the late 60s due to financial difficulties the orchestra fell apart. In 1972 the International Cultural Foundation which was founded by Rev. Moon bought the New York City Symphony Corporation.

In 1975, I was auditioned to play trombone in the New York City orchestra. But I wanted to become a conductor. I asked our conductor to give me an opportunity. At first he said: "No", but eventually he gave me a chance, and he found out that I had some talent in his field. I even became an assistant conductor. In 1985 I was asked to become the music director of the orchestra. At that time it was only a one-year situation, but I did well, I got good reviews in the local New York press. And the board of directors decided to keep me in this position. Since that time I’ve been the music director and done dozens of concerts including Carnegie Hall, Harlem’s Apollo Theater, Manhattan Center and other important concert venues in New York. I also performed as a guest conductor with other orchestras in Europe, Asia, and South America.

Being a conductor is a different experience. The conductor’s job is to bring the sense of oneness to any given performance and any given piece. You have to have certain skills in music and also have to know how to relate to people. Music is a very social art. You are working with other musicians, or singers, or in ballet you are working with other dancers. So having relational skills is very important.

In CARP we’ve learnt the skills of relations. We know that family values should be at the core of how we relate to people ethically, morally. The same is true on the professional level. Whatever you learnt in the family you take to your professional relations. The orchestra is like a big family. The conductor is a parent figure and the members of the orchestra are like children. It is important to be sensitive to their needs, desires, their concerns. In a sense it is a dictatorship, because ultimately the responsibility for performance lies in the hands of the conductor. That means that sometimes you have to put your foot down. Like with your children - sometimes you have to demand a certain type of behavior. The same in the orchestra, sometimes you have to say "That’s how it is going to be". A democracy wouldn’t work because you can have a hundred different opinions about how the piece should go. Ultimately it is the conductor’s responsibility to make a final decision. If you treat the musicians with respect and integrity they will naturally respond.

We are working on several projects right now. We are planning several concerts this year in conjunction with the Family Federation for World Peace and the United Nations. I have several contacts in the UN who would like us to perform as part of their functions. In both 1997 and 1998 we had a chamber ensemble of the NYC Orchestra perform at the United Nations as a part of their annual convention of the non-governmental organizations. On top of all that I have begun to prepare for the next World Culture and Sports Festival in the year 2000, which will be in Korea. So I guess you can say we have a busy year.

David, you are not only a musician and a conductor, but also a composer. How much does the spiritual world influence your creative process?

Among the arts, music represents the spiritual world. Painting you see visually – there is a visual image you relate to. Music you don’t see, it is sounds and emotions, like the invisible substantial world. I always noticed that there was a big difference in how smooth my arrangement work went if I prayed before I started or if I didn't pray. There was definitely a difference of how the spirit would move or not move based on my motivation to do it. And prayer is always the time when I can clear my motivation and come to a pure place before God. God is the ultimate creator and He wants to help you with your creativity. Our creativity is God’s gift. You can open yourself up to some high degrees of inspiration. Still you have your 5% portion of responsibility – you have to learn the craft, the technique. I know a lot of people say technique is not very important, but it is the object. You combine it with the subject which is heart, emotion, spirit, and create interesting works of art. David, what makes music great?

If we listen to the music that has endured hundreds of years: symphonies of Beethoven, operas of Mozart, music of Bach, this music is a perfect combination of emotion, heart - internal, poetic, dramatic aspects of art (subject) expressed through the wonderful realizations of the composer’s individual technique (object). When the balance is just right, then the technique is supporting the emotional expressivity of the music. I think that’s what determines a great masterpiece – when these two aspects are in the right harmonic balance.

If those two parts, the subject and object, the heart and emotion with the technique are combined properly, then the work of art is created which touches all of us, the wholeness of our-selves. We respond to it, we find resemblance. As you remember from Unification Thought that we see beauty when we find our resemblance in something. When we find in the work of art the resemblance of what we are as human beings, we are stimulated by that. That’s what I would define as a masterpiece. You are a very busy person with a lot of responsibilities.

Yes, I do get very busy and I tend to be a workaholic. You know, a musician takes as much work as he can get when he can get it, because sometimes there isn’t work. But my family is very important to me: I have two daughters Mi Young Gerin and Camarie Elizabeth who are 7 and 4 years old. I do make conscientious effort to be with them, especially my 7-year-old. I spend time with her helping her with her homework even for half an hour. At that time my youngest daughter gets jealous. She brings her coloring book and says: "Daddy, you need to help me too." I take them to Central Park or for a movie on weekends, I try to be with them as much as possible.

It is proven that studying music helps in the development of a child’s mental capacity especially in the areas of logic and theory. So many parents force music lessons on their children. I don’t think music should be approached this way. Music is heart and creativity. People who succeed at it, succeed because they enjoy doing it. I started to study music when I was 10 years old, which some may think is late but I progressed quickly because I enjoyed it. I wanted to practice, I wanted to get better at it.

I see too many children who are given music studies early, but they don’t want to do it. After 2 or 3 years they give it up because they are tired of being pushed by their parents and they don’t enjoy practicing. Sometimes they are not musically gifted to be-gin with. When they became older - 15 or 16, they regret the fact they gave it up because they realize what a cool thing music is. And if they could have started under different circumstances they would have stayed with it. I think it is tragic. So I don’t want to push my girls. My eldest one likes to dance, maybe she has a gift there, the youngest one also really loves music, she likes to sing, but she is only 4, so I think they still have some time. If in the future they choose it as a profession or a career, they will enjoy it.

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