People come and go in this world of ours. Some with which you’ve formed bonds of extreme strength and the severance is felt all the more intensely. Then at other times it can seem quite natural that you drift from certain relations. At this point in time I’m seeing my life as the playing of a master work of music. A piece of music, written by another hand, a spoken word of authority and existence.
This music has a melody that grows in strength and beauty with each passing day. It combines with many dancing harmonies, which play around, in and out of the work and contribute to its intricacies and intrigue.
When a harmony is played it sometimes takes a while for it to be heard. A whispering of similarly scattered notes played throughout the piece, at times so faint their significance is lost on the musician. At other points the harmony is given a place of pride and attention, maybe even before its due time. Does this mean I will miss out on its awesome crescendo? Or will I receive another chance to experience the thrill of plucking its richly strung notes in order to undergo its heralded climax?
This musician learns as she plays, sometimes stumbling over the bars provided, at other times playing with unnecessary gusto and bravado. Notes can be played with complete disregard for the composer’s genius, or even fail to resemble something of the writer’s intent.
Throughout the highs and lows of this piece called life, my melody is regularly called to play in sync with other master works. The interweaving of melodies can at times be a cacophony of unlikely notes that strangely make a lasting impression, sometimes one melody will carry the other, or hold up the dimly played notes that strain to produce a tune. There are many melodies that have been played with mine, and while all contribute to the unique flavour of my own, some provide the much required guidance my own playing lacks.
Maybe this melody of curves and distinct solo stanzas will one day be played beside another piece that exudes new strengths and direction, where the music flowing forth will become so intricately interwoven that listeners will say that it was meant to be.
Or perhaps this musician will continue to play alongside a host of others, yet a deep sorrowful solo note will resound.
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Its amazing how some songs just speak to you, about you, and your troubles – just like Roberta Flack says in her song, Killing me softly.
Comment by enriched Tuesday 27 February, 2007 @ 2:51 amThere is something beautiful about the analogy of life as an exquisite musical composition – and maybe there is something more to it in that there is little that moves the soul the way music does. There is a DVD by Rob Bell (in the Nooma series) called “Rhythm” and it likens the essence of God to a song. Each of our lives in interwoven within the song – if we are in relationship with God then our contribution is in harmonious unity with the song of God – if not, we still play out the song but we are discordant.
Comment by Christina Tuesday 27 February, 2007 @ 10:37 amI love the comparison of life to a composition of music. After all, music is life. Every beat of your heart and every breath you inhale are juxtaposed rhythms, set to the beat of your brain. Good thoughts, and good post!
Comment by will Friday 2 March, 2007 @ 4:01 amYeah. Music, like life, can be so tantalisingly superb. It can also be stuffed up when not approached with some form of reverence. SO many times I’ve played the discordant chord. Despite this there’s something amazing about taking risks and experimenting with what we’ve got to play, even if it turns out to be a mess.
Will, your addition to this is beautiful – the literal rhythms of our bodies joining the symphony orchestra of humanity. I think I’ll use that idea when teaching the kiddies
Comment by anna Saturday 3 March, 2007 @ 1:50 pmmusic.