This afternoon I took time to be still and listen. I listened to the sounds of my purring cat and the furnace keeping me warm. I listened to the wind howling outside on one of windiest winter days of the year. I found it interesting that in order to really listen, I needed to be silent and still. Yet, all around me were sounds that reminded that that life isn’t still nor silent. Within the quietness of my soul, cars drove by, the house creaked, and the gusts of wind rose up and down, all reminding me that the world never stops.
(video credit - Karen Young)
One of the things I often tell my students is that music needs to go somewhere and move off the page. I remind them that if music is merely played note by note, measure by measure, without any emotion, dynamics or expressions, it’s no different than a pool of water along a stream that is caught without current. When water isn’t moving with the current, it becomes stale, stagnant and smelly. In the same way our music is plain, boring and lifeless without energy and movement.
In reflection I thought back to the wind and how it teaches me that I must keep moving and growing in order to flourish. It’s in these times of stillness I realize that I must keep moving. I need to move my mind, my heart, my faith and trust that where I’m going is good. In order to have a life that goes in a positive direction, I need to move forward. And that’s where faith comes in. I need to trust that when I move, my faith will lead me with the wind and waves of life in a way that creates music that moves me and moves you.
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