THE MUSIC BOX September 26, 2021
Prelude to Worship: Let There Be Love . . . Ian Grant & Lionel Rand, 1940, Fly Me to the Moon . . . Bart Howard, 1954 , Our Love Is Here to Stay . . . George & Ira Gershwin, 1937
Offertory: What a Wonderful World . . . Bob Thiele & George David Weiss, 1967
Piano Postlude: Let It Be . . . Paul McCartney, 1970
A warm welcome back to talented vocalist Akina Miyata, who brings pianist A warm welcome back to talented vocalist Akina Miyata, who brings pianist wealth of talent and spirit. I recently read these words by Karl Paulnack, pianist and director of music division at Ithaca College, spoken to the freshman class at Boston Conservatory, and they struck home.
“Let me talk a little bit about music, and how it works. The first people to understand how music really works were the ancient Greeks. And this is going to fascinate you; the Greeks said that music and astronomy were two sides of the same coin. Astronomy was seen as the study of relationships between observable, permanent, external objects, and music was seen as the study of relationships between invisible, internal, hidden objects. Music has a way of finding the big, invisible moving pieces inside our hearts and souls and helping us figure out the position of things inside us.
Being a musician isn’t about dispensing a product, like selling used Chevies. I’m not an entertainer; I’m a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker. You’re here to become a sort of therapist for the human soul, a spiritual version of a chiropractor, physical therapist, someone who works with our insides to see if they get things to line up, to see if we can come into harmony with ourselves and be healthy and happy and well.
If there is a future of peace for humankind, if there is to be an understanding of how these invisible, internal things should fit together, I expect it will come from the artists, because that’s what we do.”
AMEN and EnJOY!
