The effect of music
Mid Sunday afternoon the thought of a brilliant and moving musical experience never crossed my mind. Nevertheless, at the Briercrest Classical Concert tonight I experienced one of the most amazing musical experiences I’ve ever had. Music had moved me before, it always does, and I mean I am a music student after all, studying day after day deep into the depths of its structure and history. But tonight, for some reason my heart was moved beyond expression or words because of the sound of music, and because I could feel God in every note sung. Odd, it was not like I had never sung these songs before, yet the atmosphere of the audience made it so much more enjoyable to sing, and to share the grace and beauty of our Lord. First off, singing with everyone together, College Singers, CHS Choir, and Resonant was amazing. We all joined together to sing praises to God, something that unites us together. Then hearing the different ensembles, and something that was quite refreshing to see was that each person singing looked like they really believed and enjoyed what they were singing, which makes the experience of listening to the music so much more beautiful.
Then it was Resonant’s turn, and that is where I begin to feel something so amazing. I’d been worried the whole day because my throat was sore and I wasn’t sure my voice would make it. As we begin to sing I thought, it doesn’t matter what I sound like, I want to sing for Jesus, and we all did. I focused on the words we were singing, God so loved the world, rejoicing in the Lord, even singing in Spanish about the Holy Spirit. (I especially loved playing my autoharp tonight, and actually remembering the worlds to our little Latvian carol, but that’s another story!) Each musical sound filled my soul and I was in complete happiness, I didn’t even care if the audience liked it or not, I just wanted to share the love and gift of God’s grace and his creation called music. Once the CHS choir finished their AMAZING set (seriously, made me proud!), it was time for the song of the evening, “My Prayer” written by the talented Scott Finch. This was one of my favorite songs of the night, and I’m not just saying that because Scott is my teacher in almost every class, or that I’m trying to avoid his wrath...haha....ha, of course not! Anyway, as we began to sing, I closed my eyes and just heard the different chords and musical colors rising up into the dome ceiling, and it was glorious! But it was just not the sounds, but the feelings of the words, “Have mercy on me oh Lord”, and pleading with God, but also thanking Him for what He has done. It reminded me of why I love music, not just creating sounds, but reflecting God’s creation in the sounds that He made for us to praise Him with.
Another thing that I appreciated about tonight was watching the conducting of Scott Finch (CHS Choir/Resonant Conductor/Music History, Theory, and Conducting Teacher/Full of zeal/etc). His passion in each piece he conducts is something that brings out the art so much more in each singer. And that makes studying music and singing music more enjoyable because he sees the glory and majesty in the creation of music and how we have this amazing tool to bless people and to praise Jesus. Studying music theory and conducting and music history might sometimes make me want to thrust myself against a brick wall really really hard, however, tonight was a picture of how music can impact people. I had so many people come up to me and say how this music was a blessing to them and that they needed to hear this tonight. That is what it is about. That is why we study theory, conducting, and music history, so that we are really to share music with the hurting people of the world. So that is why we must have lots of zeal to get through, or else it will cause us angst, and you don’t want that!
Then it was Resonant’s turn, and that is where I begin to feel something so amazing. I’d been worried the whole day because my throat was sore and I wasn’t sure my voice would make it. As we begin to sing I thought, it doesn’t matter what I sound like, I want to sing for Jesus, and we all did. I focused on the words we were singing, God so loved the world, rejoicing in the Lord, even singing in Spanish about the Holy Spirit. (I especially loved playing my autoharp tonight, and actually remembering the worlds to our little Latvian carol, but that’s another story!) Each musical sound filled my soul and I was in complete happiness, I didn’t even care if the audience liked it or not, I just wanted to share the love and gift of God’s grace and his creation called music. Once the CHS choir finished their AMAZING set (seriously, made me proud!), it was time for the song of the evening, “My Prayer” written by the talented Scott Finch. This was one of my favorite songs of the night, and I’m not just saying that because Scott is my teacher in almost every class, or that I’m trying to avoid his wrath...haha....ha, of course not! Anyway, as we began to sing, I closed my eyes and just heard the different chords and musical colors rising up into the dome ceiling, and it was glorious! But it was just not the sounds, but the feelings of the words, “Have mercy on me oh Lord”, and pleading with God, but also thanking Him for what He has done. It reminded me of why I love music, not just creating sounds, but reflecting God’s creation in the sounds that He made for us to praise Him with.
Another thing that I appreciated about tonight was watching the conducting of Scott Finch (CHS Choir/Resonant Conductor/Music History, Theory, and Conducting Teacher/Full of zeal/etc). His passion in each piece he conducts is something that brings out the art so much more in each singer. And that makes studying music and singing music more enjoyable because he sees the glory and majesty in the creation of music and how we have this amazing tool to bless people and to praise Jesus. Studying music theory and conducting and music history might sometimes make me want to thrust myself against a brick wall really really hard, however, tonight was a picture of how music can impact people. I had so many people come up to me and say how this music was a blessing to them and that they needed to hear this tonight. That is what it is about. That is why we study theory, conducting, and music history, so that we are really to share music with the hurting people of the world. So that is why we must have lots of zeal to get through, or else it will cause us angst, and you don’t want that!
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