Administrator
We recently had our Spring Fine Arts program at the school
and all of our bands had the opportunity to show what they had been working on
this year and the progress they have made.
What an enjoyable evening it was!
I don’t know about you, but I have always been a little
partial to the incredible music that can be made by a group of people in
concert with one another. The incredible
melding of sounds and blends and movements of each person doing their part to
produce a sound that expresses emotion and beauty is something that moves me
deeply.
None of that could happen without the presence of the
conductor. When you think about it, it
may not seem like the conductor plays a very important role. They don’t even play an instrument in the
band that contributes to the sound. They
stand in front, waving their arms in the air, which upon examination, seems a
bit futile to produce any productive sound.
Yet a conductor is critically necessary to a band. While performing without a conductor may work
for a small ensemble, even a moderate
size band would not be able to have the precision necessary to stay together
through the various movements of a piece of music without a leader.
The conductor does more than just start, keep, and end the
band together. With each sway of the
wand the conductor is able to draw out of the individual players, and the band
as a whole, the finer nuances that make
instrumental music so dramatic. Even one
musician not in tempo with the rest can spoil a beautiful piece. The conductor knows the piece and how it
should sound. It is his purpose to bring
even the weakest of the musicians to their highest potential to achieve
glorious sound.
As a youngster, I took up percussion and played in the band
until I graduated high school. I have
been part of some pretty incredible bands with more than able conductors. The one thing that was impressed upon me from
the beginning is that I must keep my eye upon the conductor. Yes, it was necessary to view the music, but
my body was turned, my stand was set so that with everything else going on
around me, I could still see the conductor.
I, along with the rest of the band, was to “fix my eyes.”
I know the imagery of Hebrews 12 is not that of a conductor
of a band, yet I think the principle in mind is the same. Jesus
is the conductor of the band in which each believer plays an important
instrument. Not all instruments are the
same. Not all carry the melody all the
time. Some, like the percussionists, rarely
do. Yet each part is critical to the
piece. The only way we are going to pull
it all together and produce the beauty entrusted to us is if we keep our eyes
fixed on Jesus, the conductor, and follow His direction. With every wave of His baton, we seek to
anticipate His desire. His will becomes
our will. Ultimately, when the score is
complete, it is our ultimate goal that He may turn to His audience, His Father,
and take a deep, well-deserved bow. For
He is our Conductor and is worthy of all the praise.
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