A Christmas Eve List

    It is a day of rain and fog. Windless. Droplets fall from a low sky of still white, beading the downcast heads of dying roses who have yet to be pruned. My house is full of waiting and quiet contemplation. And so...

• I wrap presents for my brother and his wife, thinking of their arrival tomorrow and the twelve days of celebration we have planned.

•  I make music. Working out Beethoven’s designs in the development of a sonata, I re-think his thoughts.

•  I polish the hundred year old wood floors until they glow, ready for guests.

Busyness: Part 2

    Something happened on Sunday night. I went to the open house Christmas party at my pastor’s house, an event I had been anticipating for nearly a month. After the grind that was the last three weeks of school, I had missed those consecutive Sunday worships and I was very much stuck in my cocoon of distractions. I knew I needed to go to this party, if not for my own good than for my sister who was getting fed up with my crankiness. The evening proved wonderful in three ways.

    First, I hadn’t realized that I wanted conversation until I got there...and I got it. By the time I got home, my voice was a little hoarse. So many good and loved people to circulate with! So many good topics! So much laughter!

    Second, I had missed my pastors and to be in their company and part of their conversations was like catching up missed benedictions. I went for three weeks without worshiping in church, without hearing the blessings, without singing with the congregation, and without lifting my hands. It was as though I had navigated the world with only one eye. Attending worship that morning and then the party that evening was the restorative double dose that I needed.

Busyness: Part 1

"Badger hates Society, and invitations, and dinner, and all that sort of thing." – Kenneth Grahame, “The Wind in the Willows.”

    I have been told that I am a “typical pianist.” It has long been observed that certain personalities among musicians are associated with the instrument they play. Some of these stereotypical perceptions are actually quite accurate, although they are frequently unkind.Popular definition of a pianist: the workaholic whom you never see in any color, only performance black. Committed. Serious. All in all, good pianists are heard and not seen. (That 24/7 din that fills the hallways to the practice rooms? Guess who).

    I like black (a lot), I am committed (entirely), I am serious (deadly) and as others can testify I am rarely seen (although Friday night there’s always a good chance). I like this image, which, although seemingly admirable for its hard working mentality I perhaps like the feeling of being busy more. When a day is full of things to be done I am conveniently unaware of “menial” things. Talking to my little brother on the phone to find out how his school day went, stopping by the grocery store for my mom, having lunch with my sister…all of these things gets pushed aside. Yes, I like busyness too much.

Fact and Fiction

King Frederick the Great on the Flute performing with Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on the Harpsichord and František Benda on the Violin.

    I recently had to write a paper on James R. Gaines' book Evening in the Palace of Reason which I highly recommend. A colorful interpretation of Bach’s meeting with Frederick the Great of Prussia, Gaines carefully records the known historical facts but considers them in not so much a scholarly frame of mind as an imaginative one. Probably classified as "historical fiction" there's more history to it than most novels of the genre. Here are some wandering thoughts I had while enjoying the book (I'll try not to give too much away).

    First of all, what is to be gained from reading a story-ized version of history? If only to exercise the mind and nothing more, that alone should be considered valuable. But the fact that people today don't even consider history as a story means this book would be highly beneficial at least to that audience. There is, however, more value to be gleaned from looking at fact through fiction.