Celebrating Musical Genius

The Michael O’Neal Singers recently performed a concert entitled Celebrate Musical Genius.  The program included selections by two undisputed geniuses:  Kleine Orgelmesse by F.J. Haydn and Requiem by W.A. Mozart.  In comments made to the audience prior to the Requiem I mentioned that in conducting this work numerous times over the years I have never failed to find in it something “new.”  That’s the way it is with works of musical genius – there are degrees of understanding and appreciation that can only be fully reached with a serious commitment by the performer and/or listener, and there is always something new to be discovered.

I sensed this “serious commitment” by both the audience and the performers (chorus, soloists and orchestra) this past Sunday afternoon.  And because of the “commitment” made by all the parties mentioned above there was an environment created that encouraged a “communication” between all the parties.  This communication took many paths, paths which included all the possibilities inherent between and among audience, chorus, soloists, orchestra AND composer.  That’s right, I said composer, even though Haydn has been dead for 200 years and Mozart for 218.  So, how do we communicate with someone long since departed?  It is my contention that a musical genius leaves something of his or her soul in a composition.  That collection of dots, dashes and squiggles on a piece of paper, when made into sound by sensitive and intelligent musicians, forms a conduit by which the composer “lives” again.  What a mystery, and what a responsibility to those of us who desire to perform the music of these geniuses!

Concerts such as we experienced on Sunday are as good an explanation as any as to why I am so thankful to have a career in music, and why I am so appreciative to those who make it possible.  The comments I’ve already heard from audience members and performers would suggest that I am not the only one who experienced something special.  I’d love to hear from you.  What did you feel?  How were you affected?   Through this blog it is my hope that our Sunday “communication” can continue.

Unity Through Song

I had the unique opportunity this past weekend to host, with my church choir, a Unity Concert which was a culmination of a month-long Roots Festival in honor of Black History Month. I would like to share with you the comments I made at the beginning of the program. While they are not specific to choral music, I believe we were all reminded that evening of the sense of togetherness that singing can provide. It was a special evening for all in attendence.

I was born and raised in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  It was neither a fully southern nor a fully northern town.  But I can remember, as a young boy, water fountains marked for “white” and for “colored.”  I remember also that only the “white” fountains had cold water.  I remember the separate rest room facilities for blacks and whites.  I remember buses where the blacks moved to the rear of the vehicle to be seated.  I remember all of this, still with shame today, although at the age of nine or ten it was impossible to know how to change these things.  I only knew they were wrong.  During my junior year in high school, I had the opportunity and privilege to welcome five very brave black students who chose to leave their own high school and become the first students to integrate our previously all white academic and social environment.  I am thankful that one of those young black men became a close friend during our two years together.  I remember several years later a college choir tour from Kentucky to Florida, in which we stopped for a meal at a restaurant south of Macon, Georgia.  I remember the sixty of us in the choir, including our one black member, now a professional singer and teacher in NYC, all getting off the bus and walking in to enjoy a meal and fellowship before continuing on our journey.  I remember our being told that the black “boy” would need to go to the kitchen to receive his meal.  I remember also that we all immediately left our seats and returned to the bus together.  We were no longer hungry.

These were certainly little things in some ways, and the small steps taken by some of us can not even begin to compare with the much larger steps taken by others over the years.  And now, all these steps, both large and small have led us to a day in our nation’s history in which we have an African American President.  All of us, no matter what our political leanings, can and should be proud of this fact and that our children, black, white and all shades in between, can now see a world of possibilities for which many of us only dared to dream not so many years ago.

I am thankful that our Roswell Roots Festival is able to culminate in this Unity Concert tonight, a concert that celebrates both our diversity and our unity.  I believe it to be a wondrous thing that our various gifts, talents, backgrounds and interests can all come together in a period of true sharing and unity.  May this evening be a catalyst for us to seek even more opportunities, all year long and not just during the month of February, to discover ways to live and work together, to respect and love each other, and in so doing become more fully human and more like the persons which our God longs for us to be.