Music is such an important marker of Christmas and the holiday season.
The sights, smells and tastes of the season can transport me to that land of holiday magic, but it’s the sounds of Christmas that really put me in the mood. If I’m not ready for the season, I will actively avoid the music. But once I’ve decided it’s time, I pull out my collection of Christmas CDs and I’m there. Because this CD collection is mostly from the 1990s, when our children were young, there is the golden tint of nostalgia there, too.
In church, on December 18, 2022, our choir, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, presented Illuminare, a five movement piece by Elaine Hagenberg. It was a brand new piece, so no nostalgia here, but I was overcome by its beauty. Tears filled my eyes and streamed down my face as the sumptuous music washed over me. Music has power.
As I contemplated why music has such power, I came to realize that there are many parallels between music and our lives.
A melody is a forward pattern of notes, just as our lives are a linear progression of events, and just as in certain pieces of music, refrains will often circle back again. “Oh, I’ve been here before!” Sometimes the notes of the melody and the events of our lives are sustained for a long time; at other times there is a quick succession. Sometimes the moments build up, climbing ever higher, and at other’s, the melodies of our lives descend to a lower register. A melody is never static, though. It moves and changes.
Adding harmony by layering our lives with others brings a richness to the forward pattern. When we interact with friends, family, and even strangers, there is a fullness that emerges that isn’t present with a single voice melody, especially if all the parts mesh seamlessly. And when everything falls into place, and the last chord resolves, a sort of peace settles in.
Rhythm adds form and structure to a piece of music, just as the rhythm of rising, eating, and working adds structure to our days. The cyclical pattern of the four seasons, the school year, or the fiscal year, can structure our years. Life stages—childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, middle-age, and older adulthood—form the rhythm of a life. Just as in music, the pace of our lives can seem “presto,” “largo,” or “adagio.” Sometimes there is a steady, solid beat; sometimes it’s jazzy and syncopated.
Timbre is the musical term for the quality of sound in a voice or instrument—full, thin, rich, reedy—which colors the song. Color is the ineffable quality that translates a piece of music into emotion—moody, dark, lilting, joyful. And just like timbre and color, our lives take on different qualities at different times of life.
Melody, harmony, rhythm, timbre, and color create the song of the whole of our lives. Our lives can be heard and seen in a myriad of tunes and hues, depending on our changing perspective.
May the song of your life fill you with power and wonder. All lives are power-full wonder-full.