I have a really bad habit of getting caught up in everyday life. Letting the little things get to me. The little frustrations. Okay, in the moment, they're big frustrations. A friend reminded me of this verse the other day:
"Restore to me the joy of your salvation,and uphold me with a willing spirit."Psalm 51:12 ESV
Who am I to forget that the center of my world should rightly be God? His salvation is the only thing that truly matters.
"Jehovah liveth; and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation"
Psalm 18:46, ASV
I've really been struggling though this last two months. The recital, work, homework, class schedule, emotional turmoil, all of it has really been waying me down. And now I have this solo artist competition on Saturday. I have really been losing sight of my true focus in life. And the piano work wasn't going so smoothly. In late September I was given a 19 page Bach concerto to memorize for the competition. Up until last night, I was still unsure whether or not I would have everything ready and secure.
Then last night in the middle of practice, I remembered...
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
- Phillipians 4:13 NKJV
God is my strength. My strength is not my own.
And right there I prayed. I spent 15 minutes just sitting in my practice room praying quietly.
And the music?
Beautiful. I saw that concerto in a new light last night. Up until last night it was the technically difficult, slightly flashy little piece that fit my personality that was good for the competition.
But last night I saw God in my music. I saw the long way my memorization skills have come in the last two months, how my patience (against my will) has developed, and I experienced a joy that few understand. The joy that comes from a truly beautiful piece of music, and the ability to share it with yourself, and to share yourself through your music with God. I thank God so deeply, for the gift he's given to me, and for giving me a gift that is so easily shared with others. I don't know where my gifts will take me in life, I don't know how much longer my hands will work, but I hope that while they do still work, I remember to thank God for them every day.
No matter the outcome of my competition on Saturday, whether I win the spot with LSO or not, I feel I've won. I've had a great challenge, and have met it, not through my own strength, but by learning to depend more fully on God. It seems it's a lesson God has to teach me over and over again. I can only hope someday it gets through my thick head.
"I will sing of Your mercy
That leads me through valleys of sorrow
To rivers of joy"
-The Valley Song, Jars of Clay
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Scarlatti
It's Scarlatti's birthday today. He would have been 325 years old. That... is a lot of years.
Scarlatti gets mentioned in today's post because, well, I love piano music. Scarlatti wrote almost all piano music. See the connection? Plus, I love Baroque music, and Scarlatti spent the majority of his life composing at the beginning of the 18th century, quintessential Baroque period.
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, the son of composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was born in Naples in 1685, the same year that both JS Bach and GF Handel were born. He however, unlike his contemporaries, is not generally referred to as GD Scarlatti, but rather Domenico Scarlatti. Who knows how we make these music history traditions. He is considered a Baroque composer, but his music was highly influential in helping develop what we think of as the Classical style. Much of his keyboard music is Italian and Spanish in influence, and includes singing melodies, overdramatic (or operatic) influences and embellishments. During his own lifetime he was known as one of the premier virtuosos at the keyboard. There's a tale of a contest between Scarlatti and GF Handel, and upon the harpsichord, Scarlatti won out, but on the organ, Handel was judged to be superior. Scarlatti was known to cross himself in veneration of Handel's skill when it came up in conversation.
He was primarily a keyboard composer but he also wrote a number of operas for the Queen of Spain. However, in order to find an untrodden viewpoint, or to expand your horizons, I'm going to recommend that in honor of Scarlatti's birthday today, you look up a few of these sonatas for piano, since he wrote more than 550 solo piano sonatas during his lifespan. Prolific much?
Here are my top five favorite piano sonatas:
1. Sonata in E Major, K. 380, L. 23
2. Sonata in C Major, K. 502 *** (absolute favorite!)
3. Sonata in B minor, K. 87
4. Sonata in G Major, K. 427
5. Sonata in D minor, K. 214
Scarlatti gets mentioned in today's post because, well, I love piano music. Scarlatti wrote almost all piano music. See the connection? Plus, I love Baroque music, and Scarlatti spent the majority of his life composing at the beginning of the 18th century, quintessential Baroque period.
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti, the son of composer Alessandro Scarlatti, was born in Naples in 1685, the same year that both JS Bach and GF Handel were born. He however, unlike his contemporaries, is not generally referred to as GD Scarlatti, but rather Domenico Scarlatti. Who knows how we make these music history traditions. He is considered a Baroque composer, but his music was highly influential in helping develop what we think of as the Classical style. Much of his keyboard music is Italian and Spanish in influence, and includes singing melodies, overdramatic (or operatic) influences and embellishments. During his own lifetime he was known as one of the premier virtuosos at the keyboard. There's a tale of a contest between Scarlatti and GF Handel, and upon the harpsichord, Scarlatti won out, but on the organ, Handel was judged to be superior. Scarlatti was known to cross himself in veneration of Handel's skill when it came up in conversation.
He was primarily a keyboard composer but he also wrote a number of operas for the Queen of Spain. However, in order to find an untrodden viewpoint, or to expand your horizons, I'm going to recommend that in honor of Scarlatti's birthday today, you look up a few of these sonatas for piano, since he wrote more than 550 solo piano sonatas during his lifespan. Prolific much?
Here are my top five favorite piano sonatas:
1. Sonata in E Major, K. 380, L. 23
2. Sonata in C Major, K. 502 *** (absolute favorite!)
3. Sonata in B minor, K. 87
4. Sonata in G Major, K. 427
5. Sonata in D minor, K. 214
Monday, October 18, 2010
10 Things
I've decided as part of this blog I'm going to run a weekly series called "10 Thing" featuring ten things about a subject, something that's on my mind, or just general musings. Today hits the musings button. I was having an interesting discussion with someone recently and throughout the conversation they kept saying things like "I had no clue!" or "I didn't know that about you!" and that struck me as funny first, but then curious second. So, in the vein of sharing a little, ten things you might not know about me:
1. I have enough mild allergies that I keep them written down on a little card in my emergency pack. That way in case I can't remember I can look them up.
2. I love French pop music of almost all decades in the 20th/21st centuries.
3. Speaking of music, I can't listen to Barber's Adagio for Strings without wanting to melt/cry/do something else ridiculous
4. I am an ardent feminist, but would probably choose to be a stay-at-home mom if I ever had kids.
5. Remember all those Disney movies the 20-something set cut their cultural teeth on? I only saw four of them as a child; Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, and Beauty and the Beast. The rest I've seen in the last two and a half years. Except Pocahontas, which I'm still missing.
6. I've always wanted to be just like my Dad. Just without the financial whiz brain.
7. I'm incredibly passionate about groups that work with women, especially groups like MOCSA and Veronica's Voice.
8. I danced for ten years during grade school and junior high
9. I collect antique Charles Dickens novels, but I can only buy them in second-hand bookstores, that's one of my rules. I have The Pickwick Papers, Martin Chuzzlewit, and Barnaby Rudge. They're all at least 90 years old, and my oldest is at least 110 years old, there's a signature from 1900 on the inside cover.
10. I blush when I'm happy, not when I'm embarrassed.
1. I have enough mild allergies that I keep them written down on a little card in my emergency pack. That way in case I can't remember I can look them up.
2. I love French pop music of almost all decades in the 20th/21st centuries.
3. Speaking of music, I can't listen to Barber's Adagio for Strings without wanting to melt/cry/do something else ridiculous
4. I am an ardent feminist, but would probably choose to be a stay-at-home mom if I ever had kids.
5. Remember all those Disney movies the 20-something set cut their cultural teeth on? I only saw four of them as a child; Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, and Beauty and the Beast. The rest I've seen in the last two and a half years. Except Pocahontas, which I'm still missing.
6. I've always wanted to be just like my Dad. Just without the financial whiz brain.
7. I'm incredibly passionate about groups that work with women, especially groups like MOCSA and Veronica's Voice.
8. I danced for ten years during grade school and junior high
9. I collect antique Charles Dickens novels, but I can only buy them in second-hand bookstores, that's one of my rules. I have The Pickwick Papers, Martin Chuzzlewit, and Barnaby Rudge. They're all at least 90 years old, and my oldest is at least 110 years old, there's a signature from 1900 on the inside cover.
10. I blush when I'm happy, not when I'm embarrassed.
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