A Music Lesson

My wife and I are participating in a volunteer orchestra/choir that will be performing "The Many Moods of Christmas" in December. I'm playing the trumpet and my wife is playing the viola. We had our first listen through/rehearsal this morning, and it went about as well as one would expect for the first time as a group. Some parts went well, some not so well. It's one of those pieces that is going to take a LOT of work, but the end result in a little over four months will hopefully be worth it.

As we were driving home, I mentioned that it was interesting playing the third trumpet part, when most of my experience through grade school and high school was as a first trumpet. The first trumpet is usually the one with the melody, solos, higher notes, etc. The one that you initially hear when you're listening to a band or orchestra. The one that seems to get all the glory and attention. The third trumpet part initially seems to be the one that isn't as important, as it has the lower parts, hardly ever gets a solo, only plays the melody if it's in unison with the first and second trumpets, and you'll only hear it if you really are trying to. So you might think I'd be insulted to be given the third trumpet part, as if I was being told I wasn't good enough for the other parts. And I have to admit, that probably would have been my first reaction when I was younger. I may have even been tempted to quit, with the excuse that if I couldn't be the "star" then I didn't want to participate at all. But as I've gotten older and hopefully a little wiser, I realize that in music, the end result is always greater than the sum of its parts. You may not be able to quickly identify the third trumpet in the midst of the entire choir and orchestra, but it is absolutely critical to the overall vision of the composer and the beauty of the music. As is every other instrument and voice. The full potential of the composition can only met if everyone does their part.

And that's one of the reasons I really love music. You can take brass and strings and woodwinds and percussion and voices and put them all together and create beauty out of potential chaos. One of my favorite movies is the edited-for-TV version of "Amadeus". There is one scene in particular that illustrates this point. Mozart is discussing an idea for a new opera, and says this:

Sire, only opera can do this. In a play if more than one person speaks at the same time, it's just noise, no one can understand a word. But with opera, with music... with music you can have twenty individuals all talking at the same time, and it's not noise, it's a perfect harmony!

We see the same thing in our everyday lives. Especially in our families and our church. Our Heavenly Father is the composer of the universe. He has placed each of us in our own circumstances and expects us to practice and grow and learn and develop and to fill the measure of our creation. The 20 or 20,000 or 20 billion of us can all play or sing at the same time and our Lord creates a perfect harmony out of chaos and noise. However, we may often think our part to play is small and/or insignificant, and that in the grand scheme of things it doesn't count for much. We may think that no one would notice if we don't play our part. We may think that our responsibilities in our homes or church aren't very important when we compare ourselves to others. We may get frustrated sometimes as it seems that we practice and practice and practice and keep making mistakes and falling short of the perfection that is demanded of us.

Wrong
Wrong
Wrong
Wrong
Wrong

We are all important in the divine composition. Our part is significant. The responsibilities that we are given are important. We will always fall short of perfection in this life, but we have been promised that as we have faith in Christ, repent, keep the commandments and endure to the end that our weaknesses will be made strong and our imperfections will be made perfect in Christ. And I think that when we pass on from this life we'll be given the chance to look back and we'll be able to see and hear how our part in this life sounded, and we'll be amazed at the grandeur of it all.


Additional reading suggestions:

Four Titles-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf April 2013

Concern for the One-Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin April 2008

1 Corinthians 12