In Mr. Holland’s Opus, Mr. Holland dreams of becoming a famous composer and selling millions of dollars worth of music compositions. Unfortunately he never has the luck to land such a role in society so he takes on the career of becoming a high school music teacher. As a teacher he is able to share his passion for music with his many students and enlighten them with the knowledge he has acquired with the years that he has been dealing with music. Mr. Holland’s new passion was to teach his students about the importance of music in ones life and in society. He made it his goal to reach out to as many students as possible and teach them as much as he could about music. Mr. Holland had his students feel the same love for music because it was their way of expressing themselves and relieving themselves. Music was a scapegoat to paradise for Mr. Holland and many of his students as well. They turned to music for guidance, support, and a better overall understanding of themselves as well as others. Mr. Holland’s community was enriched by the music education that he provided for them. His teaching ranged from classical to rock to pop and to alternative. With out a doubt, Mr. Holland’s music appreciation class was one that benefited the whole school as well as the community and himself.

A different kind of musician can be seen in “A Wagner Matinee” a short story written by Willa Cather. Georgiana, an elderly woman, needs to claim the estate of one of her bachelor relatives that passed away and left it for her. Her nephew, Clark, lives in the same town as her deceased relative and receives his elderly aunt with open arms. He hasn’t seen her in a long time and feels that he owes a lot to her; she was the one responsible for his upbringing and caring. One day, Clark decides to take aunt Georgiana to a symphony where Georgiana has a flash back of her younger days as she recalls some of the keys being played in the symphony. “…her fingers worked mechanically upon her black dress, as if, of themselves, they were recalling the piano score they had once played.” (Cather 34) She pressed firmly against her dress as if she was really playing and went into deep moments of concentration. All that Clark could do was watch his aunt’s passion for music shine brightly about her face. When the symphony ended, she exclaimed to him, “I don’t want to go, Clark, I don’t want to go!” (Cather 35) Georgiana had been hurt that she had to leave so soon, she was recalling the days when she was able to get away from it all and play her piano to clear her mind and her thoughts. Music was her escape form reality; she was able to go off into places that she never could actually go to. “I understood. For her, just outside the concert hall, lay the black pond with the cattle tracked bluffs; the tall, unpainted house, with weather-curled boards, naked as a tower; the crook-ba

Some topics in this essay:
Cather Georgiana, Opus Holland, Mozart Mozart, Act III, , Death Apart, Stephen Herek, Ciccone Madonna, Willa Cather, Yourself” Madonna, madonna women, passion music, themselves music, “a wagner matinee”, willa cather, universal language, written willa, elderly woman, holland students, role society, importance music, written willa cather,