Preparation for...

Charles and I finished our last major rehearsal last night for the Garrison competition. I was struck by the impermanence of so much of our work. As musicians, our preparation is not a finite event. This feels like I am stating the obvious. We prepare, practice, practice, practice, and then when the clock strikes the time.. We execute and perform where we are. As a teacher I have tried to explain this concept to my students for a long time through overly melodramatic statements..

"The perfect performance does not exist.
We can never be good enough, if we think we are good enough, we should quit"

For me, this reality is best defined by the concepts I have learned from Charles Hulin, post school. Our performance is an exploration of a point in time and space. The intersection of performer, composer, poet, and audience into one fleeting experience. Each member of the previous list has a role to play. Each must exhibit maturity and give of themselves in an open, honest, transparent manner. Each must prepare and practice their "art". The beauty of music is that sometimes we get it right. When the intersection occurs, a thing of beauty is created. A focal point for all of the energy delivers a wave of energy into the world that touches the very souls of those participating. The music inspires, reprimands, demands accountability, and provides blessing. It is a gift, the performance is a vessel. The moment is fleeting and impermanent.

God speaks to his world through this intersection of events in the midst of his divine concurrent diversity. He is in all things, all times and is the source.

As performers in our play, we must each play our part. Contribute our piece and deliver with humility in hopes that the grand intersection might occur. We as men so often seek to define and take credit for the building, the whole, the "music". Our intention must remain on glorifying God as we sing/play. We must be diligent as Jesus taught, and we must strive for more than we are, embracing hope and faith that we might be a vessel for the Holy Spirit move through us and bind the "players" offerings into something extraordinary.

A grand revival would be my wish. I hope that God will bless Charles' and my offerings in the coming months and allow our music to honor him in a grand way. I sing praises to my God.

1 Peter 2:4-10 (The Message) Welcome to the living Stone, the source of life. The workmen took one look and threw it out; God set it in the place of honor. Present yourselves as building stones for the construction of a sanctuary vibrant with life, in which you'll serve as holy priests offering Christ-approved lives up to God. The Scriptures provide precedent: Look! I'm setting a stone in Zion, a cornerstone in the place of honor. Whoever trusts in this stone as a foundation will never have cause to regret it. To you who trust him, he's a Stone to be proud of, but to those who refuse to trust him,

The stone the workmen threw out is now the chief foundation stone. For the untrusting it's a stone to trip over, a boulder blocking the way. They trip and fall because they refuse to obey, just as predicted.

But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.