On Birthdays and Blessings

It's my older sister's birthday. As I get older, birthdays become points of reflection as well as celebration. This is the first time that I've been in Fairbanks in early June in the last twenty years. Typically I'm in Texas sweating like a pig. It's nice to be home for her birthday. To celebrate the day I've decided to compose her a birthday song. I enjoy writing lyrics and composing music. Much like Jason Mraz, wordplay is key to a good song and can be very useful in celebration and reflection.

So, I've got some decisions to make. What style/harmonic structure should I choose? Something with chromatic harmony? Maybe something that involves the circle of fifths? Maybe utilize some "blue notes?" Possibly something that modulates to an unrelated key? Or maybe something that involves third relations? Should it employ durchkomponiert? Should it have a riternello? Maybe the melody should have an appoggiatura or some other non-harmonic tone. Okay, enough of all that. I know enough to still pass freshman theory. Any yet, knowing all of these things and having the skill to utilize them effectively is not important to my big sister. Outside of our academic training in music is the vibrant world of everyday living and everyday people. One of those everyday people is my sister who recently lost her adopted son at the age of five to the flu and I will bet you that she really doesn't care a flip about all of that musical-techno-jargon. She will focus on the simple fact that her brother wanted to bless her with his musical talents by taking the time to write her a song.

Taking time to write a song. Taking time to hum a tune. Taking time to whistle a gig. Taking time, taking time, taking time. Making music takes time. Time is in short supply. Therefore, a key to promoting active musical lives is influencing how others use their time. Lucy Green challenges us to reflect on how we traditionally conceive of music education with the hope that, one day, our nation will have many more active makers of music.

Birthdays and other special days and events present us with opportunities to bless our families and friends with music of our own making, design, and performance. My thinking here is this: If we bless those closest to us with music, might they bless others?