Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Brian’s Reflection: Thursday, March 20, 2008


I love to play in the different keys like B or F sharp,
or keys that most people don't play in, because they
have a better resonance or something. I'm really not
fond of F and C. I just stay away from those if I can.


- Marian McPartland, artist, pianist, superb human
being, born on this day, 1918, and still going strong
at 90!


I am addicted to and devoted to this wonderful woman. What!? You don’t know Marian? She has had a slot on NPR for years, called Piano Jazz. I keep thinking about how I can organize my life to go to a taping of her show. She gets the most terrific musicians to be with her, and she gets them to play, then to play with her. And she’ll play a solo too. And it’s mostly improvisation – she says, “Let’s play this song!”, and they start, and she just invents it! God, how I wish I had that talent and that skill!! I used to listen to her every Sunday night when I lived in NY. And my soul would be nourished and inspired and blessed. Oh yes: I was envious. This is what I would like to be in another Life.

I think that approaching the Mystery we call “God” is always playing in “different keys like B or F-sharp”. F and C are lifeless, unless they have be transformed by understanding B or F-sharp. Beethoven and Mozart wrote glorious things in C and F because they understood B and F-sharp in their lives. I understand B and F-sharp, believe me. And because I do, when a C or F come along, they are glorious because they incorporate ….. suffering and joy, isolation and love. B and F-sharp are seeking modes. F and C are the soaring escapes from the minor keys of Life.

I know that Marian could excel in C and F. Especially at 90! But she’d have to lead into them with B and F-sharp. Such is Life.

Friends, love the B’s and F-sharp’s of Life. Wallow in Beethoven’s 9th – the key is D-minor. But Resurrection, Life, is definitely C-major! Like the Shubert Symphony # 4. It’s the norm! It’s the seat of the soul Baby!

Brian+

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