Music Scores

I had the opportunity to read through Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos (K. 448) with a good friend of mine, Andrew Mariano. Upon arriving home from Turkey Run with my small group (which was an amazing experience,) I gave Andrew a call for him to pick me up. We entered the music building and clumsily pushed a piano (the wheels were locked) from one practice room into another. From the very first notes, I felt bad for Andrew because of the huge difference in the levels of our respective piano technique. You could say it was like Nodame with Chiaki, except unlike Nodame, I had no talent whatsoever, though I did dodge that A# in the beginning (any Nodame Cantabile fans out there?)

After practicing for a while, Andrew and I started practicing on our own, and for him, that meant some serious literature. Among the pieces he played were Liszt's transcription of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Debussy's l'Isle Joyeuse, and Rachmaninoff's Third Piano Concerto. I stopped practicing on my own, saving myself the embarassment of practicing pieces in the likes of Schubert's Piano Sonata No. 16 and Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 2.

As I watched Andrew practice, I was reading along the score. There's definitely a new level of appreciation one has for a piece if one takes time to read the score. The human performer cannot perfectly replicate what the composer had in mind. What we derive from the score is subjective in the sense that the way we perceive the score is unique. Only the composer knows how the piece is intended to be performed, and to convey the piece in its perfect ideal state, the composer must adorn the score with instructive words and phrases and punctuations.

Yet still when we try our best to follow the instructions laid out by the composer, performers seem to add their own personal bias, leading to not the original interpretation the composer had intended, but their own unique interpretation. Technically, that means the interpretation is imperfect, since it failed to accurately depict what the composer wanted. True, the new interpretation may be superior (such as how I feel about how inadequate Rachmaninoff's interpretations are of his own piano concerti,) but that is not the point I want to make.

When I look upon that score, I feel joy and excitement in the fact that I'm looking at the author's personal instructions. Though we fail to interpret the piece perfectly according to the score through playing music, one cannot argue against what is written in ink. As I gaze upon the score, I notice intricacies never noticed before when I merely listened to the piece. I hear the imperfections of the performer because the score states otherwise. Reading every note, every marking, and every word, I try to hear the piece as the composer had originally intended for it to be heard.

The point is, the Bible is in a way, no different from a music score. The Word contains God's instructions and describes what He originally intended for humans to be. When we interpret the Word, due to our imperfect minds and our bias and tendency towards sin, our interpretations can come out tainted and do not accurately reflect what God was trying to say. I'm not saying that no good comes out of our interpretations, because I find myself blessed all the time when I hear insightful and meaningful interpretations from fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Rather, I am trying to say that our model of Christianity is imperfect due to our imperfect human nature, in that we are incapable of fully deriving the true and perfect essence of the Word.

As we live our lives, we need to be deeply rooted within the scriptures, just as any performance must find its foundation within the score. When we merely hear the Word of God being preached to us, I think it's just like listening to a piece. Such an experience is usually great, but I think it's more crucial for us to dive into the Word ourselves. I stated previously that there's a greater level of appreciation for a piece once you read the score. There's a new sense of intimacy and awe as you read what the composer had originally intended. Likewise, there's great intimacy in studying the Word yourself, and seeing firsthand what God wants from us. There's a new level of depth as you study the Word, many things that go unnoticed when one listens to someone else talking about it.

I'm not trying to take away from the importance of going to services either. It's important to listen to what other people obtain from the Word, for just as a performer's interpretation is unique, what one gains from reading the Bible can be unique too, and I think it's important as a Christian to actively listen to insights offered by other people. Study as I might the music score, there will still be a lot of things that go unnoticed by me, a lot of which that others may have noticed. It's important for any performer to listen to interpretations of other professionals, as it is important for us to hear messages given by pastors, whom by attending seminary are in essence, professionals at interpreting and presenting the Word.

I know I haven't written in a while. I know I haven't been able to keep up with my quiet times, but just because I don't write in here doesn't mean that I've neglected my quiet time for those days. I'm still making my way through Proverbs and hope that I can share my insights here when I get the chance. After leaving the music building, I was simply thinking about this and thought I would like to share it.

Peace, good night. I am very sleepy.