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CNN Sunday Morning

A New York Musician's Take on September 11

Aired October 14, 2001 - 09:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: Before we go into our next hour, we want to bring you one last story.

DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: And it's written in a language that a lot of folks say is universal: music. And in this case, what Joshua Bell has to say is straight from the heart.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

JOSHUA BELL, NEW YORK MUSICIAN: It's just hard to believe that they're gone. They used to stand right there the two towers and just erased from the skylines. It's one thing to see it on TV but then to see them on flames is just. The worst feeling was just that of helplessness I think. No one knew what to do and you know being a musician you know it's like how can I offer my anything you know it's just kind of -- it's a horrible feeling of helplessness and depression because of that.

Some friends and I went down and played at a Red Cross shelter trying to do something to keep ourselves busy and maybe feel like we're doing something. And then I did a kind of a memorial concert at the Riverside church which was a very touching service and being a part of that and playing it kind of started to bring it all home and I started to feel better.

Every single person there was sad and not going there to be entertained. I felt like this is what music is really meant to be about. It's not about the -- about dressing up and going to the concert and you know being kind of a social thing. It's like -- really communicating. I feel very luck because the music I play, Beethoven and Bach and Mozart I mean they wrote these pieces to deal with exactly these motions that we're feeling and they're so incredibly appropriate.

It's a mystery about music. I still don't understand how a single phrase of music can express so much. It can express complex things like you know joy and sadness at the same time, that feeling of you know smiling through tears.

I find music to be incredibly healing. People turn to religion in these times and music. And for me music is my religion and it serves the exact same purpose. (END VIDEOTAPE)

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