Recently the responsibility of playing the piano for our divisional youth chorus shifted over to me. Since DYC will be gathering together in a few weeks, I figured I should go through the songs, so today I braved the 81 degree weather of the chapel and started playing.
I love playing the piano. Most often I will play a song in my head or sing while I play, so playing with notes in front of me isn’t all too common these days.
My frustration with one song in particular kept growing because I had to slow down, and I knew the right notes to play but my fingers weren’t cooperating and do you know how long it’s been since I’ve read music in the key of D flat?
I was about to quit when this brilliant idea sprang to my mind. What if I learned the words and the melody of this part? I had only been reading the piano score and had no idea what the song was about or the journey of the tune.
Once I sang through the melody a couple of times, something amazing happened to the accompaniment part. It got easier. All of a sudden I felt like I was on a team… with myself. All because I learned the melody.
Right now I’m feeling the same way in ministry. I am tempted, especially now as the summer moves closer to fall and the start of programs, to want to focus on the details of what I am to oversee at my church. I want to figure out a better reward and discipline process, and I want to get name tags and please God show favor upon us and help us get a better sign in/out system.
The accompaniment. The little parts.
The thing I love about the accompaniment, and why I probably love chord sheets so much, is because the accompaniment is really flexible. If my fingers don’t stretch enough, I can leave a note out. I can make the bass notes an octave lower. Leave out frustrating rhythms and even skip quick chord changes. Because that’s all the support stuff.
The part that matters the most in choral music and in ministry, is the melody. The melody is the part that requires a bunch of people to all agree on what the composer saw best. A bunch of people agree to hold certain notes out long enough, pronounce words a certain way, agree upon a tempo and dynamic… or else it throws the whole thing off.
Just like I needed to figure out the melody in order to have an idea of what the purpose of the accompaniment was, I need to stop trying to figure out the accompaniment to Christ’s melody. I want to pursue no plans for ministry until I can sing the song of Christ’s heart for my kids, my church and my community. Then and only then can I effectively know what to take out or add to the supporting component of the song the Lord sings over us.
“Grace alone which God supplies
Strength unknown He will provide
Christ in us, our cornerstone
We will go forth in grace alone.”