I wrote this post a while ago for my personal blog, and as I was thinking about it earlier, I thought that this is worth sharing with you: my fellow musicians
Yesterday, I paused, wondering if God was trying to show me something. A theme was emerging from the Bible passages, and I turned again to revisit the three chapters I had previously read: Psalm 93:3-4~ The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the LORD on high is mighty. The seas having a voice lifted up to God really captured my imagination, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The seas have a voice? Always before, I had just thought of it as noise. This new perspective boggled my mind! Then, a few chapters later… Psalm 96:11-13 ~ Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, Again, I was in AWE! And again, I read… Psalm 97:1-6 ~ The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. And yet, still another chapter… Psalm 98:4, 7-9 ~ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth… Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD. Have you ever thought of creation like this? Have you ever considered that nature itself sings? I sure hadn’t! But it makes sense. Everything God created has a purpose, and every part of His creation has a purpose. The wind, trees, grass, and water are actually designed to give praise and glory to God. Now I am listening to life around me in a whole new way. It is no longer merely noise. I’m listening to music being lifted up to the Creator. Here’s something else I discovered: In verses like Psalm 98:4, it really means “all the earth“! In Hebrew, the definition for “earth” is as follows… eh’-rets: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):–common, country, earth, field, ground, land, nations, way, wilderness, world. I had always thought “earth” was directed to people. But in this instance, it is clearly referring to the whole of creation. What a fascinating discovery! Indeed, the Lord reigns forever. Let the whole earth rejoice! (Originally written on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009)
Yesterday, I paused, wondering if God was trying to show me something. A theme was emerging from the Bible passages, and I turned again to revisit the three chapters I had previously read:
Psalm 93:3-4~ The seas have lifted up, O LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding waves. Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the LORD on high is mighty.
The seas having a voice lifted up to God really captured my imagination, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The seas have a voice? Always before, I had just thought of it as noise. This new perspective boggled my mind!
Then, a few chapters later…
Psalm 96:11-13 ~
Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD,
Again, I was in AWE! And again, I read…
Psalm 97:1-6 ~
The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice. Clouds and thick darkness surround him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side. His lightning lights up the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory.
And yet, still another chapter…
Psalm 98:4, 7-9 ~
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth… Let the sea resound, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the LORD.
Have you ever thought of creation like this? Have you ever considered that nature itself sings? I sure hadn’t! But it makes sense. Everything God created has a purpose, and every part of His creation has a purpose. The wind, trees, grass, and water are actually designed to give praise and glory to God. Now I am listening to life around me in a whole new way. It is no longer merely noise. I’m listening to music being lifted up to the Creator.
Here’s something else I discovered:
In verses like Psalm 98:4, it really means “all the earth“!
In Hebrew, the definition for “earth” is as follows… eh’-rets: from an unused root probably meaning to be firm; the earth (at large, or partitively a land):–common, country, earth, field, ground, land, nations, way, wilderness, world.
I had always thought “earth” was directed to people. But in this instance, it is clearly referring to the whole of creation. What a fascinating discovery!
Indeed, the Lord reigns forever. Let the whole earth rejoice!
(Originally written on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009)
I love the quote Natalie put on the gift to her students last year:
“The music you make is a picture of who you are.” -inspired by the following quote from Samuel Butler, an English writer in the 19th Century
Every man’s work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
Here’s some info I shared last night about the instrument I want to play. (Plus, a little extra. ):
The hammer dulcimer has a trapezoidal shape and strings are attached from one side to the other. And very similar to the piano, the shorter the string, the higher the pitch; the longer the string, the deeper the pitch; contrary to the piano, however, this instrument is not widely used…but it’s SUPER cool! The dulcimer has a rich, sweet resonating sound. In fact, “dulcimer” comes from two words, one Greek and one Latin, “dulcis” and “melos” together they mean, “sweet sound or song”. To play the dulcimer, you position it somewhat diagonally and use two little hammers to hit the strings. There are a variety of hammers and all of them produce a different tone-whether richer, softer, or sweeter. Also, depending on the type of wood it’s made of, it produces a different tone, too. This instrument is known around the world as a zither, hackbrett, santoor, etc. and has been in existence since before the 12th century; it’s believed to have originated in Persia. Interestingly, the dulcimer is mentioned in Daniel 3:5: “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:…” Here are some links to see pictures: Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3 Here’s a link to listen to a YouTube recording: Baby Dulcimer
The hammer dulcimer has a trapezoidal shape and strings are attached from one side to the other. And very similar to the piano, the shorter the string, the higher the pitch; the longer the string, the deeper the pitch; contrary to the piano, however, this instrument is not widely used…but it’s SUPER cool! The dulcimer has a rich, sweet resonating sound. In fact, “dulcimer” comes from two words, one Greek and one Latin, “dulcis” and “melos” together they mean, “sweet sound or song”.
To play the dulcimer, you position it somewhat diagonally and use two little hammers to hit the strings. There are a variety of hammers and all of them produce a different tone-whether richer, softer, or sweeter. Also, depending on the type of wood it’s made of, it produces a different tone, too.
This instrument is known around the world as a zither, hackbrett, santoor, etc. and has been in existence since before the 12th century; it’s believed to have originated in Persia. Interestingly, the dulcimer is mentioned in Daniel 3:5: “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king hath set up:…”
Here are some links to see pictures: Picture 1, Picture 2, Picture 3 Here’s a link to listen to a YouTube recording: Baby Dulcimer
All of you who missed out, missed out on a GREAT TIME! They just keep getting better!
Joey sent me this really neat video of what appears to be a sibling trio. It’s got to be one of the coolest songs I’ve ever heard!
Just CLICK HERE!!!
I know many of us have heard this phrase before, but it’s ever so true! My first week of piano lessons this year was pretty bad (due to having surgery); however, it had a good result…
I REALLY LOOKED FORWARD TO BEING ABLE TO PRACTICE THE NEXT WEEK! (This was very strange for me, because even though I try to have a good practice record, I have never really enjoyed practicing.) Not only did I end up looking forward to practicing for “that” week, but each and every day, too. And, after I had my second lesson…my enthusiasm sky-rocketed! Here are some reasons why:
-I saw significant improvement in my songs/piano playing. (Why? Because I made a point to practice six, long hard days.) -I looked forward to practicing with an even greater reason this time. (Why? I wanted that same great result.) -I could play my songs with joy. (Why? Because I pushed myself the week before to know them and get the gritty work done, that now I could play them much easier.)
You see, there was and still is much reason for me to be enthusiastic: I see progress!
This might be very difficult to do, but instead of dreading practicing, try to get excited. Put lots of effort into your pieces and assignments. Try playing the hard songs first and save your favorite or easiest one for last. Switch your routine up; be creative.
MAKE YOUR PIANO PRACTICING FUN & ENJOYABLE!
Lately, I’ve been playing “Be Thou My Vision” and have really been working on NOT looking at my left hand while playing so that that hand’s *topography improves. Well, it hasn’t been very easy, and sometimes I just want to give up and look. But I don’t, because there’s that little inside voice that keeps telling myself, “I can do it! I can do it!” However, even after that, I feel like looking, but I just have to keep saying, “Don’t, DON’T, DON’T! Just keep playing! DON’T look down!”
I was a couple days into practicing this way, when a parallel came to mind:
Many times throughout our life we’re tempted to give-up and be done with tough trials, but then our faithful God comes to our side. And he whispers, “You can do it! Don’t give up. I’m here, just trust in me-have faith.” Sometimes, that’s all we need to keep running the race strong.
So when you get discouraged and feel like giving up…DON’T!!! Keep your chin up and instead of saying, “I can’t.” say, “I can!”
(*feeling/playing the keys without looking.)
Besides piano, this is my favorite instrument; I hope to play it someday. And I’m sure after you are done listening/watching this video you will have fallen in love with the sound as much as I did. (Like I wrote in the title, this is a “mini” dulcimer. If you want to hear a full-sized one watch the video below this one.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElgVKbex-WM
Full-Sized Dulcimer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFK7JsmWmMo
While at Joey’s cello lesson a couple of weeks ago, Natalie learned something about dynamics that was very enlightening. So, she relayed the technique (I guess you might call it) to me. Here’s what Joey’s teacher said:
Many times when we see dynamics such as “mf, mp, etc.” we tend to think that we must only play those parts “Moderately Loud/Moderately Soft“. While this is correct, we need to think of playing them more in terms of the piece. It’s mezzo forte for “that” “particular” song, so if it’s the second loudest dynamic marking, you should play it as the second loudest-not necessarily “just” “moderately” loud.
Ever since I started incorporating this idea, I’ve really been able to bring out a lot my songs’ character and mood. It also makes it much more exciting to play my music, too!
This post is a bit old, but the helpful information it offers is nonetheless old. Isaac Harris summarizes a Film Academy session Geoffery and Ben Botkin presented on the topic of “Film Score Composing”. Here’s the actual title: How to Make or Break Your Film: What Every Filmmaker needs to know about Film Music As you can imagine, they have some great suggestions and tips! I hope I can listen to the actual session someday.
