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I read a famous clasical musician's bio the other day and on it, under religion, he listed music. And okay, maybe he was trying to sound 'artsy,' but I've heard that from too many other musical types not take him seriously.
For instance...
When I was a kid, one day, Isaac Stern really pissed me off. If you don't know who that is...ever see Fiddler on the Roof? He's the guy on the soundtrack actually playing the fiddle. (You know that really cool solo he does in the opening credits? The guy never wrote it down. Yeah, try and pick that out by ear. Mother &%$#@#.)
Background-I don't know about you, but in my family, for a long time, I was the token Christian. And at sixteen I was all jazzed about studying this cool ancient document known as the Bible. But I still needed to practice violin three hours a day...that's as in needed to if you wanted to get really good...but my mom came to sort of expect it and became angry when I would read the Bible instead of play. So I would prop the Bible on my music stand and start playng scales. Uh...you do an hour of scales and someone either get suspicious or completely loses their mind. A little of both: my mom once came busting in my room, yanked the Bible off my stand, waved it in the air and said, "This is never going to help you! Music has to be your god! Stop it!" And she threw my Bible across the room. I know, it sounds dramatic, but like I said, it was an hours worth of scales. I didn't feel too harsh towards her.
That same weekend we were going to Powell Symphony Hall to check out Isaac Stern playing the Bruch Violin Concerto, since I had just started learning it myself.
Oh, yeah, man...only the mega-obsessed orchestra nerds worked on professional concerto's at that age. At my school we had a whopping number of music nerds: eight. The other 30 kids in our orchestra program were there becasue they liked it, wanted the credit, but had other plans for later on. But while our other friends were going to the store and buying Rollings Stones albums, we were the ones picking up Bach's The Passion According to St. Matthew, or original recordings of Fritz Krielsler...and actually listening to them.
But I thought Stern would help me out. He was a Jew and I figured maybe he could say something to my mom about how it never hurt anyone to read the Old Testament. So after the concert I tell my mom, "Hey, we gotta go get his autograph..."
My mom: "He won't stop for us, I think he has to leave right away."
Me: "I'm a string player. He'll talk to me. Watch."
Stern came sweeping out of his dresing room, with his forbidding, black-suited entourage by his side. I marched up, said, "Mr. Stern!"
He turned around and I to be honest, I almost panicked. Hell, I was talking to the greatest Maestro of the day.
But, no guts, no glory.
I held out my program. "Mr. Stern, I am studying the Bruch right now and I loved the way you played it. Would you please sign my program?" (Bats big brown eyes.)
He said, "Of course, my dear." He yanked out a pen and signed with a flourish. Then, I quickly added, "And, sir, I'm very curious. I know you're Jewish and so I wondered, has an understanding of the Old Testament helped you as an artist?"
The black-suited crew nodded as if I'd said something fairly intelligent and I waited for him to suggest Hebrew School.
Stern considered, pursed his lips and said, "It has helped in my ethical understanding. But to be a musician, young lady, music must become your faith. Music is my god. It must becaome yours, too."
He bid us good day and hurried off.
Yes, I was pissed.
.. damn it...
The whole incident made my mom tough to be around.
Although I never took him up on the suggestion, I have noticed a number of musicians who, even if they don't call music god, act as if that is the case.
Does music naturally lean toward idolatry? God commands us to sing praises to Him and to worship with the strings, the brass, songs, drums...joyful nosie...anything. So perhaps if God tells us to use it for this type of ultimate good, then perhaps our adversary uses it to enable the ultimate evil.
When I get back here again, we'll talk about it some more.
Ciao, baby.
Always Merry when I'm talkin' t'you...
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