RomanceEverAfter

Melissa Newton
aka Melissa Hamilton Profile

Music

An Epiphany

It has been close to ten years since I had an epiphany about the nature of music.

A very talented musician had recently moved with her family from Venezuela. I was scheduled to play the piano for a morning church service. She offered to accompany me on the organ. Of course, she could not have realized how delighted I was that she offered. Fusing the majesty of an organ with the resonance of a grand piano takes music to another level.

What a privilege it was that morning as the rich melodic rhythms and harmonized chords blended with the voices of the congregation. It was such great fun, too, because as musicians we were completely in sync.

Now, here is the epiphany - music is truly a universal language.

Today, this musician is a dear friend. However, on that first occasion we played together, she was still refining her command of English.  However, through the language of music, we were in perfect accord.

The Sacred Side of Music

For anyone who is an artist in any form, you know that you need an outlet for performance or display of your work. I sing and enjoy playing the piano, but never entertained the idea of following the professional performance track. I did discover, however, that sacred music offers a continuous venue for playing the piano.  I chose to follow that path.  Since church pianists are always welcome with open arms, a service never passes that I don't feel appreciated.  

Sacred music also provides its own unique balm to the soul. Who has not been enraptured by George Frideric Handel’s Messiah during the Christmas holiday? Hymns also offer an intriguing glimpse into the human experience.  The words and music offer both praise and solace depending if an event is celebration or a memorial.

Sacred music connects us to a distant past and to boundless possibilities of the future.  

Variety is Indeed the Spice of Life

The consistent quality of music is its variety. Each culture from the time of the ancients to present time contemporary artists offer their interpretation of the world through words, notes, and rhythms.

As for me, I enjoy the complexity of a symphony. I relish the aristocratic air of an opera. (My favorite operas are Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata and Gaetano Donizetti’s L'elisir d'amore or The Elixir of Love.). I thrive on musicals. I still get goose bumps hearing the opening song to The Sound of Music. (Believe it or not I played one of the nuns in my high school play). Jazz, blues, 1970s rock, anything acoustic (Eric Clapton’s Unplugged really shows his talent as a guitarist), and the many bands and musicians hitting the airways offer terrific variations in musical styles to fit my mood.

It is also worthwhile to be attentive to musical scores in film. I particularly appreciate the talents of two respected composers, John Williams and Elmer Bernstein.  Consider how music impacts these well-known movies: The Magnificent Seven (Bernstein), Star Wars, and ET (both by John Williams*), just to name a few.

Music enriches life’s experience.

*John Williams is a brilliant composer.  He has provided the music for a variety of well-known films including the Indiana Jones movie series, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Superman.

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