Adagio

The past several months have found me deeply occupied by difficult challenges in a number of areas in my life, and thus little time for the pursuit of this budding little hobby. But the seas are beginning to calm, and the sunrises of North Alabama have been brilliant to behold of late, so here I return.

I have the joy of taking my sons to school every morning, and recently I've played some classical music CDs as we make the 25 minute drive. This morning, we listened to my favorite piece of music, Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber. My 8-year old spoke up about halfway through to say: "Dad, you know, some slow songs like this can make me feel sad, or sometimes give me comfort." So I asked how Adagio made him feel, and he replied, "Sad, mostly." Which, if you are familiar with the piece, was precisely the intent of the composer. I love teaching moments like this!

The wonderful mystery of music is that it can touch us on so many levels. Some melodies stay at the surface, while others penetrate deep within and touch those rooms in the heart that we've forgotten. Some music can mask our emotion, while some draws it out in a quite surprising fashion. I can listen to a great movie soundtrack and be completely absorbed in the moment, a la Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and The Mission. Imagine watching Field of Dreams, Pirates of the Caribbean or even Harry Potter without music. Music is written to engage our emotions, beyond the conscious mind. I can listen to Adagio, and without any images I can experience loss, grief and in the end, strength and resolution to go on in the span of 10 minutes. Perhaps this is a bit much for some people, but I find that the experience of music gives voice to those parts of us that need expression, even connection to the spiritual.

I love words, and my passion is to use words to pass on truth and to bring expression to the inexpressible without damaging the moment. A passion, sadly, I have neglected for 7 years. But sometimes, I wish I could trade it all for the gift of enriching others through musical or artistic composition. I'm glad God gave us those kinds of people, though.

After all, the human soul needs a melody.