Just a Note: The gift of music OR use your talents
I believe we all have various talents. Some of us might be gifted in more than one area. Such talents might be cooking, painting, flower-arranging, DIY, acrobatics or whatever. It’s good to use our talents because, when we do, it can be a blessing to other people.
When I was growing up we had a piano in our house. My dad played it every now and then. On top of the piano was a copy of William Smallwood’s Pianoforte Tutor. I was interested to discover that it can still be bought on line all these years later. When I was eight years old I remember opening it at the first two pages. On them were six very short pieces of music.
One day I asked my mum to show me where the first note of one of the pieces was on the piano. She did so, and I discovered that the note was called “Middle C”. Over the next few weeks I managed to work out on my own how to play the first six pieces. They were very short and simple. At that point, my parents encouraged me to have piano lessons, which I did for a number of years.
When I was at secondary school I can recall our music teacher explaining to the class the theory of harmony. It felt to me that he was explaining intellectually what I already knew intuitively but couldn’t put into words.
I recall from my French lessons at school that, in the French language, the word for play is “jouer”. When it is used in the context of playing a musical instrument, it is “jouer de”. When it is used in the context of playing sport, it is “jouer à”.
While I have always been good at jouer de - music, I have always been absolutely useless at jouer à - by which I mean playing ball games like football and cricket! When we played football or other ball games at school, I was nearly always one of the very last boys to be chosen to be in one of the teams!
However, I have always been thankful that I have had, what I believe is a God-given gift of music. Being able to do something well really does bolster one’s sense of self-esteem.
I imagine that every one of you who reads this column will be good at something. If so, I encourage you to develop your talents and use them as much as possible and to the best of your ability.
In so doing, you may be a real help and an encouragement to other people.