Monday, October 23, 2023
stewardship 2: THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
Charlie Bickford, parish choir member & parishioner
I have been a member of St. John’s for over twenty years. During that time I have had the pleasure of participating in a number of activities which our church offers. However, today I want to make a pitch for music and ask for your support.
My mother had perfect pitch. When she was still a teenager, she played the organ in Asbury Park, New Jersey for the silent films. She could play anything she heard, but when music was put in front of her, she slowed down a bit. It drove her crazy when the key of the written music was changed and she had to sing from the music — reading the notes written on the page as she sang, and knowing that the notes she was singing weren’t the same ones she was seeing.
Here at St. John’s, we do not require perfect pitch or sight reading abilities to join the choir. While we are blessed with inspired musical directors — thinking of you, Jen! — and a vital, professional quintet of choral scholars, we are imperfect, and no one seems to mind. All are welcomed!
Almost all music sounds better when you are singing it yourself; it sounds better than a professional choir. Why? There are many reasons, but the key to it all is our efforts and our imperfections. All of us work hard learning our own part; then take the time to listen to the other parts; only then comes the most important part of all, the blending of the parts into one harmonious sound. All the effort helps us absorb the music in a deeper way.
I genuinely like listening and participating in this endeavor more than listening to a professional group. A professional choir has no cracks to let you into the creation of the work. In our choir, as glorious as it is, one can hear the occasional dubious pitch, the late entrance, a wonky harmony. However, we are working hard both as individuals and as a group to raise our joined voices in an attempt to praise God.
A notion in early Greek philosophy, later to be further developed in the Renaissance, was called “the music of the spheres.” The sun and each planet emitted a sound, a vibration not heard by human ears. However, when the universe was in harmony, the cosmos created this music of the spheres; inaudible, but heard by the soul in the feeling of bliss. Maybe you will be able to feel something of this joy, this bliss in the music of the spheres here at St. John’s in our humble earthly attempt to create harmony in praise of God. Who knows?
The music program at St. John's inspires me to give. What inspires you?