Without the conductor, there would be no beat for the entire orchestra…
Over the last few weeks my sister and I have joined the Church choir. My sister plays the piano and I sing the hymns at the Church each week during the Saturday vigil Mass.
This has been a novel experience for us. For, while my sister is a talented pianist, she has not had very much experience as an accompanist. There is a very big difference between playing piano and accompanying a singer (or group of singers). You see, when a pianist plays alone, they do not need to factor in any breathing. A person can play the piano while simultaneously breathing however they like. But when a pianist is accompanying a singer, they must factor in the breathing that a singer must do to move onto the next phrase of the music.
The most important thing about music is not actually playing the right notes, but playing the notes to the correct beat. And when you are playing (or singing) with other people the beat is actually the MOST important thing to remember. If one (or both) of the performers fail to count the timing and the beat of the music then they cannot perform together and cannot work in harmony with each other and the music will sound terrible.
And it is easy to forget about the counting and the beat of the music. After all, when the right notes are played with the wrong beat the music still sounds sort of okay. The problem emerges when the beat is wrong and more than one person is trying to contribute to the music. When that happens if nobody is following the beat as written into the music, then there is chaos.
And it is for this reason that a conductor is so important to an orchestra. You see, without the conductor, there would be no beat for the entire orchestra and therefore there would be no way to ensure that the music was played beautifully rather than chaotically.
And I have been thinking about this today as I have been thinking about the beat to which the world was created. God created the world in perfect harmony. And that means that God is the conductor who wrote the beat of the music. And if we – as the musicians – chose not to follow the music or the beat of the music, we will cause harm to each other’s lives. And that harm is reflected in the chaos that we create in each other’s lives when we are stepping over each other or causing problems for each other as we try to play the music according to our own rules or simply refuse to listen to the instruction that we have been given by God.
And this translates to chaos – true chaos – as we try to ignore the Holy Will of God. And so, today, as I remember this music and the beat in my Church, I reflect on the direction that I have received through the eternal beat form God. Because this beat is the constant upon which my life should be played…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.