Listening to a video of the Psalters singing a German castle made me think about musical limitations....namely, my own weaknesses, and how I long to sing as the birds soar; freely, inspired. Then, I thought about Jay, with his low voice, and how he could probably never reach high, soaring notes, just as I could never reach the soprano jubilations that fill my heart.
But then I realized--without the people of such low range, there would be no one to reach those deep, bass, resounding foundations. And from there it flashed to me, a clarity of how everything works, in life, music, the church...some of us are limited, but those different limitations result in combinations of exquisite beauty that could not otherwise have dreamt of taking flight.
Somehow this must take root in my understanding of myself. Musically, I see the application. There must be the different parts, and perhaps those individuals who flow between them--the sopranos, tenors, bassists, and mixes betwixt. There must be the confident, pitch-gifted leaders. And somewhere in there fit the people like me, a little less confident, but able to adapt to what is there, and somehow find harmonies coming out of my mouth that I didn't know were there
I suppose the trick is to not feel bad about ourselves for not being good at the things that are other people's limitations.
2 comments:
Wouldn't it be nice to have an excellent conductor in our lives to tell us where we belong in the choir? Some say God is that conductor; some say our parents. But for most of us who have tried to listen to God, His/Her voice is very difficult to hear or understand; and let's face it, our parents are just as lost as we are, usually.
So we drift, we wander, we learn about ourselves - and that journey can be very rewarding, amazing really. And that's probably why God doesn't interfere directly.
I think you're right. And I think that part of the need for the journey is to let us fit in to different places throughout our lives, perhaps because of changing surroundings, perhaps changes and growth in ourselves.
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