 Aloha, my name is Larry Grimm and I'm host for the Think Tech Hawaii program. Don't just age and gauge. Welcome to our half-hour program where we look at the personal dynamics of aging and how to make your elderhood an extraordinary time of your life. Today I've invited Buzz Tenant to be a part of our program to be my interviewee and I'm happy to say that Buzz is a friend of mine and also a mentor and teacher of mine. I take voice lessons from him and he is one of the reasons that I consider my ex-milderhood to be extraordinary. Hi Buzz, welcome to my program. Hi, hi Larry. Nice to be here. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you so much for being a part of it. In one of the pieces that you wrote for me in particular, you quoted the Shawshank Rebellion movie. Oh Redemption, yeah. Shawshank Redemption movie. It's from seven years, several years ago. And in it you quoted, and I may just paraphrase this a bit, comes to a simple choice. Are we getting busy living or are we getting busy dying? Now why did you choose that quote? Why does it have so much, what is the significance that quote has for you? Well, to me it connotes present moment awareness living in the moment, not dwelling too much on the past with its trials and tribulations, but being in the here and now and looking forward to building our future in a positive, creative way. And rather than sort of getting stuck and mired in the past, we look forward because life is all about momentum. And the protagonist, Andy Defreen, who says to Red, as you mentioned, I guess it comes down to a simple choice, get busy living or simply get busy dying. So I think we need to remind ourselves that we're in linear time, limited, not in the sense of eternal time and now, but chronologically. And it's up to us to make that choice to live in a creative, fulfilling way. And as I also wrote in the essay, with passion and enthusiasm, doing what you love, following your bliss, as Joseph Campbell would say, growing and evolving in grace, acceptance and humor. Or we choose to bow down to the inevitable, not always, but diminution of mind, body and spirit. So I've chosen the former path, which is to live with a sense of vitality and passion. Yes, I was thinking that since you're alive, you have opted in for life. But I assume that there's, there's not a default that people will necessarily that we at this age will necessarily opt for living in. I mean, living in the fullest. Yes. Thank you very much for sharing that. You're welcome. Tell us a little bit, Buzz, about your timeline and your history. You know this island very well. Yes, yes. Well, I was born and raised in North Carolina. I came here in high school. Actually, I was a sophomore, the grand old age of 15. My father got a job teaching at Pune or her school, Arthur Tennant. And I attended school here then went away for a number of years and spent time in New York and had school music. I got a master's in voice. And then I went off to Germany primarily and performed there for about 12 years opera, musical theater, oratorio and recitals. And I returned to Hawaii in 2003, ostensibly to take care of my ailing parents. And I could have stayed longer, but I felt it was my duty and responsibility as their only son. And it was a happy responsibility to have done so. I met my lovely wife, Conti here. I got a teaching job at Shamanot. And then I teach privately as well. And then I did a little bit of work with Hawaii Opera Theater, the Hawaii Vocal Arts Ensemble, and then branched out a little bit of the TV film work into Hawaii Five-O and independent film. So I've tried to really nurture my creativity in many ways. Well, you really opted for the performing arts. Yes, or yes. In a very important way for you. And how does teaching, how does singing and how does singing and teaching sort of fill you? What does it fill you with? How come? Why is that important to you? Well, because it enriches my spirit. It's that lovely passage in the scriptures about make a joyful noise and noise for joy. Sure. I love that, one of my favorite passages. And to me, it's part of who I am. It's my intrinsic being a day without even practicing is kind of a melancholy day. I mean, to me, it's like watering the roots of a plant, you know, a flower. And it just is a daily routine. It's I have a little saying about discipline becomes habit, habit becomes second nature. So it's an intrinsic part of my daily life. And I see the two as being complementary. I love to share my spirit, my thoughts in singing and whether it's an aria or leader or musical theater, by the same token, I love to share my alleged gifts with the students and inspire them and encourage them. So it works in tandem. Yeah, I can tell I can vouch for the the latter part, because I'm one who's inspired by what you give me and what you impart to me in my voice, the work with my voice. You, you in your essay, you started off your essay sort of with a kind of a question on the brink of your 64 on the eve of your 65th birthday. Correct. Now, now I want to know, did did did this birthday present you with a sense of transition that you were moving into a new stage of life? Yes, absolutely. It was one of those transitional periods, like for example, coming back from Europe, moving into the role of a caregiver. And in embracing that responsibility. In this way, as you know, I wrote it on the eve of my 65th birthday. And I had jokingly said to my wife that, you know, I'm still too young for Medicare, but but too old for women to care. But anyway, that kidding aside, I on a serious note, I did ponder the question. And of course, the the title, which appears in your in your lovely book, Don't Just Age Engage, is of course, the artful codger, a little play on the artful dodger. But yes, you're correct. I was in a very reflective mood, a little bit tongue in cheek, but underlying seriousness of it. And looting to the typical landmark birthdays that we celebrate, and the milestones and seeing 6065 is the new youth of old age, as Victor Hugo would say, you know, and seeing it as a new chapter and a challenging opportunity, you know, yes. Yes. Well, Buzz, do you ever, are you ever tempted just to say, forget it, I'm just going to give up and just going to go the way of the diminution. And I'm going to throw in the towel. It's not worth all. You know, that's that's a good question. You know, it's interesting, my grandmother, very renowned artist here. She used to say, I would rather fail sincerely than succeed easily. And like Faulkner would say, we shall be remembered for the splendor of our failures. I would much rather like Bernard Bernard Shaw, you know, don't be a ball of complaints about should or what it could live a life of regret, but just really, again, if you don't mind my quoting Kipling, fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds of long distance run. And I love that because it's it's taking a proactive approach to to running and that manifests itself in my wind sprints and things, but as a metaphor. But yeah, I get down, I get discouraged. You know, this pandemic has been dispiriting. We lost a family member over a year and a half ago to COVID. So it's presented a daily challenge. And but you try to make the best of it. Try to be a bit stoic. We have grown vegetable garden in our in the back of our home. And, you know, it encourages you. My father would say life is a bur or a spur. So I've tried to make it a spur and get incentivized and move ahead. Yeah, very good. Very good. And so so what are the things that you're looking forward to in the future that are going to be further fulfilling for you? Anything different? Are you have you set out any new goals you and Conti? Well, you know, we love to travel. We love to travel. And we've done a lot. She's from Sri Lanka. We traveled there. We did Bhutan, Mongolia, did a tour to Ireland five years ago. Yeah, we love the international travel. And I enjoy writing poetry essays. I want to continue that. One doesn't sing forever, unless you're Tony Bennett, God bless him. But I like my father, he inspired me. He gave his swan song at 80. It was a lovely leader in art song recital. As long as I keep the voice in shape, which I intend to do. It's I'll continue that the teaching, of course, writing, yeah, maybe do a memoir, a number of things I kind of have in mind, but a very active, you know, elderhood, so to speak. Yeah. Yeah. Well, when I do my when I do my coaching with folks for their extraordinary elderhood, emphasize what you already have done naturally, which is to choose some goals. Yeah. Those areas that as you said, Joseph Campbell said it's so good, so well, that that enhance the bliss experience. Yeah, follow your bliss. Exactly. All of those. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so often, I don't this program doesn't look at issues as much as personal development in my program, don't just age, but engage. However, there are cultural dimensions that will put up roadblocks everywhere we look. They will put up roadblocks to your bliss by saying you're too old to do that, or you should get involved in that, or and sometimes exactly from the people who are closest to us most meaningfully supportive, they'll they'll assume that we are that our age sets us on the margins. And that's why I appreciate you bringing up the topic of the or the name of the show, which is don't just age engage also the name of my book. Yes. Engage, because if we buy into that personally, then it's our downfall. Yes. Yes. That diminution that you mentioned, the slow spiral down. That's what age is all about. It's not what aging is all about. No, no. And again, it's a choice, you know, and keep your mind, body and spirit healthy and active. And it's the old part about, you know, you know, it's aging as a state of mind. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter, you know. But yeah, I think we've been victim of kind of stereotyping over the years. And I think that's changing the demographic and acknowledging, for example, those in history, right, you know, Verity's two most famous operas were well towards the end of his life, and he was in his 80s, Othello and Volstaff. Yes. And he was at a venerable age when he composed them, you know, and even Da Vinci, you can go on and on that age is no barrier. Yeah. What about, what is your inspiring? Let's go into singing a bit. Sure. And people who are aging in my age group, your age group now, would you encourage them to seek training and singing and to utilize their voices more fully? Absolutely. Absolutely. Actually, my oldest student is 87. And he revels in it. He loves it. Now, again, there's no time limit on it. I heard a wonderful story about a gentleman who took piano lessons in his 90s. And, of course, he wasn't had any grand aspirations other than it gave him joy and fulfillment, and he did it for himself, you know? It's even, I go back to my days at Manhattan School of Music in New York City. We had a wonderful, rather eccentric opera director who loved Maria Callas, the famous Greek American opera singer. And she said it never matters whether you have that moment. It's that you train for that moment. And even just the process, even, I haven't had any, well, with the exception of making my debut in Norwegian this past weekend at Lutheran Church, doing a lovely, a very Greek choral piece. I haven't had much in the way of live performances for a year and a half. So that said, I'm rededicated myself to the process. And like my grandmother, Maj. Tennant would say, an artist, be it graphic or performing, must live a life of continuous concert pitch. So it's the idea of keeping your instrument tuned for the moment, which may never come. But I think being somewhat sanguine in terms of, you know, the pandemic lifting, things will be opening up slowly. And little by little, we'll have more opportunities. But it's important to keep at that concert pitch in the meantime. And don't get complacent and, oh well, you know, I'm not going to practice today or whatever, you know? Yeah, I don't have anything coming up on my performance calendar. So I'm just going to give it up. Yeah. So, excuse me. Okay. One of the things that you mentioned also in that essay that you so good was just looking back. Yes. Reflective mode. I had one of the, an interesting, interesting praise come to me across my screen. This one group said, when we move from, when, after we retire, quote, we move from roll to soul. Yes, that's good. I like that. Yeah, I thought you were. Yeah. So good with the term. But have you looked back into, as you look back into your life, do you pull things from your life that are, you find yourself pulling things from your life that are really, this is what was so important. I mean, you quote mom and dad, you quote grandma, you quote people all the time. Are these ways of reminding yourself that this is who you are or who you want to be or what? Yes. Yes. I see them as harbor lights, you know, guiding lights that inspire me and yeah, it's a way of sort of communing with the spirit in a way too, because they're all gone, but yet very much alive in my soul. As you know, I did a centennial video tribute to my mother earlier this year. And it was very, very, very healing and fulfilling at the same time. Yeah, very much so. Yeah. Yeah. I call that remembrance. Yeah. Yeah. And the remembrance is an anemesis in Greek. Yes. Yes. And it really means to refuse to forget. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. But the meaning of the word is to pull from the past into the present, the spiritual impact, the spiritual emotional dimension. So you integrated into your present life again. Well, this is really remarkable. And I consider you to be a great example of pursuing extraordinary elderhood. Oh, very kind. Thank you. The externals of this island life had an impact on that for you. I mean, have you ever wanted to go back to good old Germany? Well, I spent nearly 13 years there. And then I was in New York for seven years there. I, because as I say, we've traveled so extensively, you know, we are geographically isolated. And because of the pandemic, we've shut down so many performing venues, you know, choir practices. And so you have to kind of create your own opportunities. I don't particularly miss Germany. I think we'll go back to visit Europe for sure. We're planning hopefully in the next year or so. But it is somewhat limited here. I no doubt about it. And, you know, limited resources. But I think solely but surely the theaters are picking up going from digital to socially distanced live performances, I think Hawaii Opera Theater. So it's encouraging. And I think keeping that worldly perspective, having traveled so much the interior landscape, keep that alive. I don't get feel that antsy, you know, living on a small island. That's fair enough. Yeah. Yeah. The interior landscape, I love that phrase. Yeah, that was a poem I wrote some while ago. Would you share with us some of your your writing and some of your sure, sure, we have time. Yeah, let me read this one. I wrote this. It's called it's called awareness. Okay, hold fast and live confidently from your vital center. Drink deep from the timeless source of a limitless being. Drawing spiritual sustenance from the fathomless well of infinite wisdom. Grasping the vastness of eternal barities. Radiate love as concentric circles emanating from a quiet, still point of calm. Underlying the gently rippling surface of tranquil waters. Divine awareness unfolds. And the serenity of an untroubled spirit manifests like the delicate unfolding of a petal as it grows inevitably toward the light. Oh, beautiful. Thank you. That's beautiful, Buzz. Thank you. And that's something you wrote recently. Actually, in the millennium in Europe in 2000, I wrote a collection of poems. Yeah, that's part of a little collection I wrote. Yeah. You have been doing some writing, though, recently. And is there anything else that you would share from written work that you've done? Well, you know, if you want, I can share a little excerpt of the essay for those that if you'd like, because I just thought, yeah, it's kind of apropos to what we're talking about. Good. Being regarded as something of a mentor, role model teacher, perhaps even a wise old sage, who's willingly capable of dispensing occasional tidbits of advice, whether solicited or not. As Socrates once said, the unexamined life is not worth living, which I've always described to. To that, I would only add the necessary task of taking a moral inventory of your life and ask yourself, not only am I happy, but am I worthy? Was I useful? In retrospect, that I serve a cause larger than myself. What did I give others unconditionally? Was I kind or was I petty and mean spirited? Was I grateful for the blessings that were bestowed upon me? Or did I take my gifts for granted, including my own health? Did I not only hear, but was I a compassionate listener? Did I follow in the words of Lincoln, quote, the better angels of my nature, unquote? Perhaps most significantly, as a wealthy businessman of renown was quoted as saying in his final hours, quote, was I loved? Or more importantly, did I love? In the final analysis, how else are we to fulfill our purpose on earth other than to love, to learn, to serve others, and in the process gain wisdom? It is in that spirit that composer Jean Scheer from American Anthem challenges us with the following. What will be our legacy? What will our children say? Let them say of me, I was one who believed in sharing the blessings I received. Let me know in my heart when my days are through. I gave my best to you. So wonderful. So beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. I wish you Aloha. I think Tecawaii is a nonprofit entity that raises up all kinds of issues, makes this platform available for everybody, and is supported by donations. So if you go to thinktecawaii.com, anyone, and click on the donate button, you'll be able to make a contribution to keep us going. We sure appreciate that. Don't just age and gauges every two months, every two weeks. On Tuesday at two o'clock, and I look forward to seeing you again here in two weeks. In the meantime, Aloha, and peace be with you.