The Message in the Music

When Kevin turned twelve, his grandmother gave him a framed print of a painting entitled “Christ, Our Pilot.” That picture has hung by the door of every place he has lived since then as a reminder to let the Savior guide him when he steps out into the world. Our children have been looking at that painting all their lives and over the past few years, the image has been referenced many times as we’ve counseled with and taught our children. Several years ago, we gave each of them a print of their own for Easter and it has even become the lock screen image on several cell phones.

With this particular painting being such a big part of our family culture, the hymn “Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me” has also become a favorite for most of us. It isn’t a hymn we sing all that often in church and it is unfamiliar to many, but in our minds the song and the image fit together perfectly. When Daniel was asked to do a special musical number in sacrament meeting, it was his first-choice song and he and Nathan found a soprano solo arrangement that worked very well as a clarinet solo.

Daniel performed today with Nathan at the piano and it was absolutely beautiful. The Spirit flowed into the room and I found myself misting up a bit because of the message of the song, the beauty of the music, the gratitude that my oldest son has made this song and image an anchor for his faith, and because this will be the last time Daniel performs before he leaves on his mission. With all that rolling around in my mind and heart, I’m actually really proud of myself for just misting up and not becoming a complete mess of tears. But I know that I was not the only one touched by the music. The stake president happened to be in our sacrament meeting today (our two speakers were one recently returned missionary and one who is preparing to leave-they happen to be brothers) and he was moved to tears. After the meeting, he sought out Daniel and Nathan to thank them for sharing such an amazing musical number and to ask for the name of the person who arranged the music. The boys happened to have two paper copies, so they simply gave one to the stake president.

There is power in music. It can invite the Spirit like nothing else. It can soften hearts and inspire minds. It can provide comfort and bring peace. It can create joy and express emotions that are difficult to explain in words. It can be an incredible tool for good. I’ve known that my entire life. I’m so grateful that my children have also discovered the power of music and are using it for good. And I’m grateful that they are learning to let the Savior be their constant guide. With him by their side, they will not be led astray.

The End of a Journey

Last night was Daniel’s last band concert of his high school tenure. The jazz band will play at graduation, but the wind symphony’s final performance was last night at Libby Gardner Hall. All the seniors were given boutonnieres, what Daniel referred to as “oldness flowers,” in honor of their final concert. As part of this concert, there were a handful of kids who prepared and auditioned to perform concertos with full band accompaniment. Daniel selected a saxophone concerto back in the fall and has been steadily working on it all year. Several months ago, it was confirmed that he would get to play at the concert, but there was some difficulty getting the music for the rest of the band. In the past six weeks he toyed with two other concertos, but he and the band director finally decided that he should play his original choice with the piano reduction. He was very pleased to be able to perform his first choice in music even though he would not have the full band accompaniment. He was also selected to play the clarinet solo at the beginning of “Rhapsody in Blue,” a piano concerto performed by one of the other clarinet players who is (obviously) also a pianist. The concert opened with Daniel’s clarinet ringing throughout the hall. To play the final concert, including several big solos, in a hall specifically designed for music was a magnificent finish to his high school music career and his notes were the first ones we heard.

Daniel played the first movement of David Maslanka’s “Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble.” When he selected the piece, he told me that it was by a modern composer, but it wasn’t atonal (which he knows I dislike immensely) and he thought I’d like it. I’ve been hearing it in bits and pieces for more than six months, but last night was the first time I’ve heard it all put together and he was right. I did like it. A lot. Three years ago, Daniel’s playing had an abundance of technical skill but was lacking in emotion and musicality. I can honestly say that he is no longer just a technical player. His piece brought me to tears, and yes, I’m the mom and a total crybaby, but there were other watery eyes in the crowd as well. It was a beautiful piece, amazingly performed, and earned Daniel a standing ovation. I’ve quoted R.J. Palacio before, but I’ll do it again. “I think there should be a rule that everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their lives.” Last night was Daniel’s night. He had parents, grandparents, and other family in the audience, and we were not the first ones to stand up. He was so surrounded by well-wishers afterward that he had to fight his way through to talk to his family before we all left. And Kevin and I were stopped by numerous people who identified us as “the parents” and wanted to express their pleasure in his performance.

In the gospel we are counseled to beware of pride, but there is a good kind of pride, the one that is expressed by the Lord as being “well pleased” with the choices and actions of another.  I am well pleased with how far Daniel has come with his music, how hard he has worked at it, how he puts his heart into his music and touches other hearts in the process. I’m well pleased with the fact that one of the first things other people tell me is that he is just “so nice” to everyone. I’m well pleased with the many things he has accomplished in his schooling up to this point and how hard he has worked to learn as much as he could and do as well as he could in all his classes. And more than all those things, I’m extraordinarily well pleased that in spite of the fact that his music is his happy place, that he will practice until his face hurts and that he has improved by leaps and bounds due to his dedication and hard work, he is choosing to pack up his instruments, set them aside for two years, and serve the Lord. As a singer, there is never a similar sacrifice.

His mission papers are submitted. We’re just in the waiting phase. Last night was the culmination of six years of training and hard work. He is at the end of one part of his journey and looking ahead to an unknown stretch of road. And in another two years, he’ll pick it all back up, take some time getting back to where he is now, and continue making music because it makes him happy. It makes me happy too. I could not be more “well pleased.”

A Band Like No Other

Unlike the all state choir where each high school gets to select a certain number of singers (twenty when I was in high school) to participate, the all state band has an audition process. You can’t really fit a five-hundred-member band on the stage at Symphony Hall so there really is a need to cull the number of students who want to participate. Daniel auditioned with his clarinet this year and was accepted. He was thrilled and I was proud. Some high schools had only one student make it in. Our high school had eight students make it. Our band director is fantastic and the success of the kids in the program is just one way we are seeing his effect. He has created an environment where not only do the kids excel, but they feel valued and included. The environment is supportive and inclusive. While he pushes the kids to be their best, he focuses on improvement rather an outcome so as long as the kids give it all they’ve got, they come away feeling like each event was a success. Honestly, I feel very blessed that Daniel has been part of such a fantastic program. His high school experience has been very positive and a large part of that is the support group made up of the band director and all the kids in the band.

The concert was this evening and I have to admit that having a kid play in symphony hall was kind of exciting. Daniel was excited as well. As he begins the last half of his senior year, he is definitely having some amazing experiences and great successes. I think he will come away feeling his senior year was all he could have hoped for.

A Very Merry Un-Birthday

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned, Daniel has become quite the band geek. He eats, drinks and sleeps music right now. Of course, it is marching band season so that fills up lots of his free hours. He is also the kid that actually likes to practice. In fact, sometimes we have to tell him to stop practicing. His sax, though a student level instrument, is only three years old and and his hand-me-down clarinet has been fulfilling its purpose. But knowing the brand and age of his current clarinet and knowing that it isn’t going to take him as far musically as he wants to go (honestly, I am astounded at the great sound he can get out of the thing), Kev and I decided to get him a new clarinet. This decision has taken us months to come to, but we just want him to have an instrument that will allow him to grow as a musician. Although we know there are others who upgrade their kid’s instrument as a graduation gift, we decided we wanted him to be able to play and enjoy it all the way through high school.

Since his birthday is in December, he gets his birthday present from Kevin and me on his half birthday. So this morning we all hopped in the car and headed to Summerhays. Daniel did not know why we were going and when we arrived and he saw Kevin’s parents were there to meet us, he was mightily confused. We went in and selected a few instruments for him to play and he was happy as a clam. He has actually played some of the professional level clarinets before, so this was not a completely uncommon thing. In fact, he and his friend Cody like to just play all those new instruments and drool…although not literally because yuck. Anyway, Daniel played and had narrowed down the assortment to the one he liked best. The one he picked was not a surprise since it is the same one he’s had his eye on since at least March. Then Kev laid the decision before him. We were prepared to walk out the door with that beautiful clarinet on the condition that it would be his Christmas and birthday presents for the next three years. We were not going to force him into this arrangement, it was a choice. Not unexpectedly, he was totally ok with the deal. He didn’t even have to stop and think about it. He knows he will still get small gifts from us and gifts from his siblings and such, but having that new instrument was worth sacrificing any big Lego sets he has his eye on. Again, not a surprise to me. Kevin’s parents were in on the deal as well-they purchased Daniel a new mouthpiece since playing the new clarinet with the old mouthpiece would be like putting a rubber band engine in a Ferrari.

He’s thrilled. And wants to practice all the time. And makes me sound even less skilled when we play together. I better get my act together musically if we’re going to play something together and not sound like I’ve run over a cat with the car. ;-)

And as a side note, while all the official payment info was in the works, Matthew got to try out a trumpet. He has wanted to play trumpet for three years now and is standing firm in that desire. He was completely stoked (yes, I realize I just blatantly revealed my status as a child of the 80’s) when he was actually able to create some sound. And Nathan test drove the pianos, very nearly drooling over an Italian-made 7 ft. grand with a price tag of $78,000. Talk about a heart attack. But he said the touch of the thing was amazing and getting a huge range of dynamics was so easy and it sounded beautiful…yeah, keep dreaming kid. But yeah, I totally get it.

Eclectic

As we finish off the year, I just wanted to mention a few things that have not made it to the blogosphere.

Daniel auditioned for our district’s youth symphony playing clarinet (which he had only been playing for about 9 months) and got in. It has been a great experience for him, exposing him to a lot of different music. He has really enjoyed it so far. In the school band he is dividing his time between saxophone and clarinet. He has been teaching himself to play the flute as well and is confident enough that he played one song with the ward choir at Christmas.

Matthew played flag football again this fall. He really loves to play but he has a hard time keeping up with the other kids just because his legs are half the length of theirs. He always seems to have a ball in his hand and a number of his balls have been grounded because he is determined to throw them in the house. Throwing footballs indoors is definitely a no-no, so we have had a number of clashes on that point…

Matthew and Malia played “Adobe” for about a week while Matthew was off-track. They have played this way periodically since Kev started working for Adobe, but this time Matthew (with some guidance from me) made laptops out of file folders. Malia looks just like Kev does when he is scrutinizing something on his computer.

Nathan has had art this past semester and he has loved it. He is sad it is almost over, but he is super excited to be in choir next semester. He is also excited to audition for the school musical. Auditions aren’t until February, but he is already prepping. I have to say that I’m kind of excited to have a kid that enjoys the same things I did when I was in school.

I was released from my calling as primary chorister in November so instead of having three callings (choir director, primary chorister and nursery music leader) I am back down to one. When I was released, they told me they didn’t have another calling in mind for me yet. I just laughed and told them I was really, really fine with having just one calling for a while. I did, however, feel like the bishopric member I was talking to was understanding about how wearing it can be on a person to be called to the same callings over, and over, and over again. He told me the primary president had already asked for me to be officially called as the nursery music leader (previously I was filling in for a sister in the ward who was diagnosed with cancer and passed away earlier this year) and that the request had been denied. I’m really thankful for him. Honestly. A chance to do something besides primary or music (and usually both) would be great.

And so another year passes much too quickly, leaving in its wake a few bigger kids, a bit older mom, and a plethora of memories.