A Sunday Thought About Playing a Lenten Concerto
We enter the first full week of Lent after our gentle "introduction" last week, beginning with Ash Wednesday. Think of yourself as a pianist and these first days as the first few bars of a great concerto. How did things go for you? Were you in sync with the orchestra? You must have prepared well if you were. Maybe you had a shaky start. That's OK. You can make up for that with a grande finale. Just remember the main theme - penance - and the rest of your performance will be just fine.
If you're not a musician and aren't sure where we're going with this, don't worry.Use your imagination. If you were a pianist, do you imagine you would just show up at the concert hall one night, tell the conductor to turn to, let's say, Beethoven's Piano Concerto #1, and just sit down and start playing. Of course not. Not only would you have practiced the piece for many months until you had it memorized, but you'd likely have gone through rehearsal with said orchestra before the actual concert. In fact, professional concert pianists attend to the particulars of the piano they'll be playing. The top guns even get to choose among a number of pianos in some concert halls. But even when they don't, their piano will have been perfectly tuned before the concert; and the pianist can request that a technician make adjustments to get the sound just so.
The point of all this preparation? When the conductor signals the downbeat, you want to focus only on the music. You don't want to be laboring to remember the next eight bars, or be distracted by a piano key out of tune, or wondering when to start and stop your solo sections, etc. All of that's second nature because of your preparation. You can now focus on communicating the music in a manner consistent with the composer's intentions. And when you're playing one of the great works of one of the great composers, your and the orchestra's performance transports the audience from their ordinary lives into the presence of the Beautiful. You do this as the music flows from your heart through your instrument out into the concert hall.
Now, for those of you who might think the comparison of your efforts during this Holy Season of Lent to that of a concert pianist exaggerated, you're selling yourself short. Or maybe your not taking Lent seriously. But no worries; there's still time to set things straight. The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent - today - recalls Our Lord's 40 days in the desert, after which Satan tempts Him three times. In His resistance and rejection of the temptations, Jesus provides the example for us to follow during Lent, and, of course, during our entire life. Your efforts during Lent will be the catalyst for following His example more perfectly every day of the year. Can you see how our comparison by no means exaggerates? Our observance of Lent is a big deal. Nothing is more important for these 40 days.
Returning to you as pianist in our concert scenario, look at it this way:
You, pianist/penitent, approach the Lenten Philharmonic. Before them stands the greatest conductor, Our Lord, Who also composed the concerto you're about to perform. Having prepared those special prayers, fasting, and acts of charity (almsgiving), you face an orchestra eager to play along with you. This Lenten Philharmonic Orchestra, along with the patrons in the concert hall, consists of all the people in your life, everyone with whom you come into contact each day. The piece itself consists of all the thoughts, words, and actions that will flow from your prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. (Our Lord composed this piece just for you.) The interaction between this special orchestra and you, the pianist/penitent, will be guided by the Conductor, who is Our Lord Himself. He knows all the musicians, and will set the tempo and the dynamics of the orchestra's playing, allowing you to play your Lenten Concerto magnificently. You're all bound together in this beautiful interaction - Conductor, orchestra, audience, and you.
That's how can play your Lenten Concerto.
And if you have some time today, here's a taste of what happens in a real concert hall when great musicians play great music, one of my favorites: Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5 ("Emperor Concerto") in a magnificent performance by Krystian Zimerman with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Have a Blessed Lent.
If you're not a musician and aren't sure where we're going with this, don't worry.Use your imagination. If you were a pianist, do you imagine you would just show up at the concert hall one night, tell the conductor to turn to, let's say, Beethoven's Piano Concerto #1, and just sit down and start playing. Of course not. Not only would you have practiced the piece for many months until you had it memorized, but you'd likely have gone through rehearsal with said orchestra before the actual concert. In fact, professional concert pianists attend to the particulars of the piano they'll be playing. The top guns even get to choose among a number of pianos in some concert halls. But even when they don't, their piano will have been perfectly tuned before the concert; and the pianist can request that a technician make adjustments to get the sound just so.
The point of all this preparation? When the conductor signals the downbeat, you want to focus only on the music. You don't want to be laboring to remember the next eight bars, or be distracted by a piano key out of tune, or wondering when to start and stop your solo sections, etc. All of that's second nature because of your preparation. You can now focus on communicating the music in a manner consistent with the composer's intentions. And when you're playing one of the great works of one of the great composers, your and the orchestra's performance transports the audience from their ordinary lives into the presence of the Beautiful. You do this as the music flows from your heart through your instrument out into the concert hall.
Now, for those of you who might think the comparison of your efforts during this Holy Season of Lent to that of a concert pianist exaggerated, you're selling yourself short. Or maybe your not taking Lent seriously. But no worries; there's still time to set things straight. The Gospel for the First Sunday of Lent - today - recalls Our Lord's 40 days in the desert, after which Satan tempts Him three times. In His resistance and rejection of the temptations, Jesus provides the example for us to follow during Lent, and, of course, during our entire life. Your efforts during Lent will be the catalyst for following His example more perfectly every day of the year. Can you see how our comparison by no means exaggerates? Our observance of Lent is a big deal. Nothing is more important for these 40 days.
Returning to you as pianist in our concert scenario, look at it this way:
You, pianist/penitent, approach the Lenten Philharmonic. Before them stands the greatest conductor, Our Lord, Who also composed the concerto you're about to perform. Having prepared those special prayers, fasting, and acts of charity (almsgiving), you face an orchestra eager to play along with you. This Lenten Philharmonic Orchestra, along with the patrons in the concert hall, consists of all the people in your life, everyone with whom you come into contact each day. The piece itself consists of all the thoughts, words, and actions that will flow from your prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. (Our Lord composed this piece just for you.) The interaction between this special orchestra and you, the pianist/penitent, will be guided by the Conductor, who is Our Lord Himself. He knows all the musicians, and will set the tempo and the dynamics of the orchestra's playing, allowing you to play your Lenten Concerto magnificently. You're all bound together in this beautiful interaction - Conductor, orchestra, audience, and you.
That's how can play your Lenten Concerto.
And if you have some time today, here's a taste of what happens in a real concert hall when great musicians play great music, one of my favorites: Beethoven's Piano Concerto #5 ("Emperor Concerto") in a magnificent performance by Krystian Zimerman with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
Have a Blessed Lent.
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