Simple
Gifts
Tony
E Dillon-Hansen
July 2013
July 2013
Question
posed to me at recent meeting of church deacons to examine where one
finds “God” in our lives. My response is simple and perhaps a
shared response via music. In my time, I have studied music theory
and composition at university. I have written music and performed
music. I enjoy great many different styles of music as a listener of
the various tunes belting from both recorded and, especially, live
performances.
Aside
from a meal, can you think of anything that will bring disparate and
politically divided people to common areas or common venues?
One could argue that sports business brings in a ton of money for
athletes and the marketers trying to sell the game far beyond an
average (or staring artist) can manage. Yet, sports-minded people
invigorate prejudices and egos of home teams and favorite players.
Yes, many of these have or made their talents be worthy of grandeur;
they are still inciting a sense of competition among the population.
I
cannot discount the interest in having good competition among people
nor that of sports in general (I partake in many amateur sports
competitions). Yet, athletes, and the money surrounding some sports,
can cause a rise above simple team love into forceful persuasion of
beliefs. Many referees can attest to this. Even with
music, a good performer will find followers and people willing to pay
good money to watch a performance. Some will debate the talent
of a particular performer or writer, but when crowds come to see this
performer(s), ticket holders (whether paid or free) come with a
common interest to hear what that performer can deliver.
American
football Super Bowl can be an exhilarating event if you are one of
the athletes or if your team is one that is playing. Even among team
fans, there could be argued that there is a sense of comradeship that
is revealed that is above petty politics or some other gross
discrimination for at least the length of the game.
With
music, many people of different stripes share an interest in a style
of music and a performer. With exception of musicians that have gone
“openly” political, audiences go to watch a performance of some
piece that became their soul, their song, their passion or their
release. A musician brings people together, not just because they
enjoy a melody but because the song became a part of them.
Interestingly,
sports teams replay Queen’s “We Are the Champions” because we,
as fans, want to hear and to ultimately see that music revealed in
our teams. Note, however, that Queen gave the fan a verse to sing
about love of team. Trumpets and drums are used to summon a call to
arms. Even, political campaigns play songs with themes of better
times because the orator, especially of lower skill, wants you to
have the feeling that what he or she is saying is going to make you
feel “better”. These happen because music invokes common
passions and inspires.
Music
can bring people of divergent opinions of all sorts together in a
venue without a need to be competing with each other. There
might be the occasional impromptu fashion debates or etiquette
quarrels. When people come to watch a musician, there is an interest
in what that musician delivers to our hearts through performance of
the pieces. That is because in that moment of music enjoyment, the
competition of the world is quieted for a moment.
We
may lead "lives of quiet desperation", but music allows us
to live in a moment fully when we find that one song, that one
melody, or that one harmony that fills our hearts with all that we
were missing. Yet, unlike Thoreau, we do not need to let the music go
to the grave with us nor do we need to lose the uncanny companionship
that we gain from mutual music interests.
Just
as diverse as opinions about politics can be, so also can our
passions about music be. Yet, no one would draw a gun over how
someone tickles the piano or beats a drum. Even traffic can have a
sense of beautiful orchestration when we allow ourselves to be with
the world and our senses. Electronic themes over riffs (acoustic or
electronic) can be an escape for anyone willing to hear what is being
played. What we can learn from music is more than notes on a page,
melodies, rhythms, or tempos, but we can even learn how we
as humans have mutual interests in different ways from different
paths.
There
are aspects in our lives that showcase competition among human beings
along with community like sports. There are also forms in our lives
that show us how things are connected to each other with or without
competition. Music is one of those forms, especially considering some
of the best music in the world often combines a theme (point) and
counterpoint in artful detail. An argument without punches. The
confluence of theme, counter patterns, randomness and competition can
be found in music, and the good writer leaves some of the work for
listener to interpret how that applies to you.
Good
artists let you do some of the interpreting, to make the song yours,
and thus, the theme can resonate with people of different social or
political backgrounds. In this world of polarized communities, is it
not nice to see a conductor on the podium who can show how all of
this can work together with a whisk of the baton or how a soloist can
move an entire crowd to tears with slow ballad? Certain politicians
would do well to realize how trivial differences are.
The
world is connected, and music can showcase that connection. Maybe,
that is a simple gift, and perhaps, that is an example of how one
might find God, which we can always cherish.