All my life, I have adored music. I played the flute from 5th grade through my freshman year in college. Then I met my husband, and he convinced me to switch to choir. I sang in the top choral group for 3 years and a smaller group for 4, continuing during graduate school. My husband and I both sang with a community chorus for a couple years as well. Of course, we sing in church, and all three of our kids have found some level of enjoyment with music, too. We have our own little family quartet on Sundays. I sing soprano, my 17 year-old daughter sings alto, my 15 year-old son sings tenor, my hubby sings bass, and my youngest (13) sings whatever part he feels like.
My daughter plays the same flue now that I did back in the day. My oldest son plays French horn, and my youngest plays trumpet. I guess you could say we have a musical gene in our DNA.
The one instrument I always wished I could play is the piano. Growing up, I begged my parents to buy one for our house, not quite understanding how expensive that would be, and every year they turned me down. When I got to college, I took 2 years of private piano lessons as an elective, but I was a little too set in my treble clef ways and never really got the hang of the bass clef parts.
So, when I decided to write Charlotte’s story in A Worthy Pursuit, I gave her the gift I’d always wanted for myself–the gift of playing the piano like a master. And one of her charges is a prodigy as well.
Stone, the hero, has never really heard classical piano music. He’s more used to the tinny sounds coming from saloons and dance halls. But just because his ear is uneducated doesn’t mean it’s unappreciative. The first time Charlotte and Stone really let their barriers down with each other is after Stone overhears her playing her heart out on the piano.
Here’s a glimpse:
The piano beckoned to her like a lost love, promising solace. Promising peace. She slid onto the bench and positioned her hands over the keys. Dobson had taken the children fishing down at the lake. There was no one to hear. No one to see.
As a music instructor, she’d played in front of her students countless times, but always when she was in full control. Never when the storm raged so recklessly inside her that she had to play or be consumed. Not when her soul would be vulnerable, exposed. No, those times required privacy. And God’s providence had provided precisely that at the moment she needed it most.
Closing her eyes, her fingers hit the keys. Chopin. Her fingers needed to fly and her mind needed the challenge. The dark tones and unconventional chords of the prelude in G minor told her story. Trapped. Helpless. Questions that had no answers. But the short piece ended too quickly. Her emotions still churned for release. So she chose another. Number 28. F sharp minor. Her agitated spirit accepted the frantic pace, stealing her breath as her fingers sprinted over the keys. But it wasn’t enough. Chopin challenged her, pushed her, but his music didn’t speak to her soul. Not like Beethoven. The Tempest. That’s what she needed to play.
Lifting her hands away from the keys, Charlotte straightened her posture and let her gaze rest on an indistinct space on the wall over the sofa until the melody of Beethoven’s Sonata No. 17 in D minor sang through her mind.
Wait.
She could hear her father’s instructions. Don’t touch the keys until the music is in you. Until your heart is one with the song.
Wait.
Her fingers hovered above the piano. She breathed. In. Out. Felt the storm build.
Now.
It began gently. Like she had. Wanting to trust. Wanting to believe that Stone Hammond wouldn’t betray them as so many men in her life had done before. But in less than two bars, the doubts rained down. She didn’t really know him. Why would he forfeit Dorchester’s payment? Why would he care?
Yet he’d taken on a wildcat for Stephen without a thought to his own safety. The music slowed again, like a ray of sun peeking through the clouds just long enough to give hope before the gray storm blotted it from the sky. This time the storm raged longer. Her right hand warring with her left as the lighter tones tried to press their way through the roiling seas of the lower hand, like a mermaid calling to a sailor caught in a maelstrom, urging him not to give up, not to be afraid.
Unlike the Chopin preludes, Beethoven’s sonata stretched long before her, allowing her to fully immerse herself into the swells and currents of the song. Up and down she went, over and over. To trust or not to trust? If she did and he betrayed her, what would she do next? How could she protect Lily?
The music became a prayer, the groans of her spirit that were too complex for words. She poured herself out until exhaustion claimed her, the tempest building to its thunderous conclusion before finally giving way to peace. Her spirit gave up the fight as well. Spent from the frenzy of worry. She couldn’t control Stone or his motives. She had to give that over into God’s keeping. He could be trusted even if Stone couldn’t. The Lord would show her what to do when the time came.
How about you?
- Do you play an instrument or sing?
- If you could play any instrument in the world, what would you choose?
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I played the flute from 4th grade thru ninth grade. I really enjoyed it.
This book looks really good.
Yay for another flutie! I’ve had so much fun watching my daughter enjoy the same instrument I did for so many years. Every once in a while, I even get my concert flute out myself and play a little. My upper register is very out of shape, but I was amazed by how much I actually remember with fingerings and so on all these years later. I truly believe music is a gift from God meant to speak to our soul.
I played the accordion from the third until the tenth grade.ing lessons and sang in choir in middle school.
The accordion! How fun, Linda. It’s like a little handheld piano. Though, I guess it sounds more like a organ. I love those peppy polka tunes the accordion is famous for. I feel my toe tapping already!
Hi Karen! I read your novel and I loved this part! I am not musical at all, but I married a music teacher! His main instrument is the French horn but he teaches them all. Sometimes I still can’t believe he married me because I cannot even read music! If I could play, I would like to play the piano, too. I have long fingers and always thought in another life, I would have been good at it.
It’s never too late to learn, Courtney. Although, there are a lot of musical people I know who simply sing or play by ear, never having any formal training. My brother-in-law is a music teacher in Nashville and occasionally sings with the Nashville Opera. Our family music genes run deep. 🙂
I play the violin and I sing in our church choir. I’ve always wanted to learn the cello and harp.
Oh, Julie. I’ve always thought the cello and harp were to most elegant, romantic instruments ever created. Gorgeous!
I learned piano as a child and played for church services at the age of 8.
Wonderful, Sonja! I bet you were a blessing to your congregation for years. Do you still play?
I played both the piano and pipe organ for many years. Unfortunately, neither will fit in our small home. I miss playing the piano very much. If we ever manage to get a larger home or when the kids move out in 20 years or so . . .
How heartbreaking to have to leave them behind, Carolyn. They make some pretty nice keyboards these days – nothing as classic as a true piano, but they would fit your size requirements and still give you a chance to play. I hope you are blessed with the space you need someday soon.
Karen love this post…..makes me more anxious to read Worthy Pursuit! I just finished Full Steam Ahead and Love on The Mend….loved them!
I took piano lessons in middle school and can play some, but I never practiced enough…which I now regret!
Thanks, Jackie! I’m so glad you enjoyed Darius and Nicole’s story as well as seeing Jacob all grown up and going toe-to-toe with the indomitable Mollie. 🙂
Ah, yes – practice gets us every time, doesn’t it? It’s hard to do the actual work required to master an instrument. I never practiced as much as I should have, either. And when I failed to make the top band in college, that’s when my husband-to-be lured me to the choir side. Ha! Of course, I loved that, too, so absolutely no regrets. 🙂
Wow. Beautiful passage, Karen. I, too, played the flute but only through high school. Definitely not as musical as you and your family–how fun to sing together! My teens and I recently sang an off-key Happy Birthday to my husband. Does that count? 🙂
That absolutely counts, Julie! 🙂 There’s a reason the Bible calls us to make a joyful “noise” unto the Lord. It’s what’s in the heart not what comes out of the mouth, that makes the music truly beautiful. And a song full of laughter and off-key comedy must have been pure fun. 🙂
Piano and flute! (And a little piccolo when the occasion demands, though I do not own one, so I suspect my embouchure is about dead). LOTS of pianists in the family, often with a side instrument or voice.
Piano has always been a release for me – something to work out frustrations on, to find comfort in when mourning, to play simply for the pleasure. I was not great about practicing for lessons, which I took from 3rd grade until I graduated high school, but in college I played a lot for stress relief and to pass time between classes, and suddenly my skills were markedly improved!
Beautiful, Rachael. Practice is so much easier when it’s not a chore but something you do for fun or release. I had two goals when I first started taking lessons – be able to play Moonlight Sonata and The Entertainer from The Sting. Still can’t play, either, but I don’t have a piano, so I guess the point is moot. I love the classic pieces but there is something about that ragtime style that never fails to put a smile on my face.
I played piccolo once or twice in high school. Tricky but fun. 🙂
I don’t play an instrument, but I love the evocative, almost melancholy sound of a cello best.
Me, too, Cheryl. I can just close my eyes and soak it in. Love the cello!
Beautifully written, Karen. I, too, have a pianist in my novel. And I never played but can feel the music. I really felt your piece—was right there. Lovely.
Thank you, Sandy. I really enjoyed researching that scene. I got to sit back and listen to some fabulous piano music. It was almost hard to stop the playback in order to resume writing. 🙂
Beautiful illustrations! I played piano growing up, but now so many years later I cannot pick it due to a neuro-muscular disease. But I love listening to piano playing quietly in the background. Music rests me when my pain is big. So does reading!
Music truly does soothe the soul, doesn’t it, Sandra? I’m so sorry that you have to deal with so much pain and can no longer create the music you love yourself, but I pray that the music of others will continue to minister to you.
Definitely the piano !
Wonderful, Shirley. I love the piano. Probably because you can sing and play at the same time. 🙂
Can’t sing. But I did learn how to play a guitar when I was younger.
Guitars always make me think of campfire sing-a-longs. Love those. My pre-K teacher had a guitar and played for us all the time, teaching us all those great 1970s folk songs. I still remember that. 🙂
I played cello in grade school, had group voice lessons with my three sisters for several years, and grew up with a piano and several guitars in the home. I never did learn how to read music (or to play by ear like my father), but I’d love to take up the cello again.
How lovely to grow up surrounded by music. My cousins had a baby grand piano and I can remember all of us gathering around at Christmas time to sing carols. I was so envious of that piano. I think that’s why I started asking for one every year. 🙂
I am such like you. I too played the flute from fifth grade until my freshman year in college. I also played the piccolo. We did have a piano at home which I had tried. I never could figure out the left hand. I too had a daughter who played my flute. She went to a Christian boarding school and lost it when they visited another school. I especially liked playing in an orchestra. Still love orchestra music.
Nancy – We could be twins! How funny that we share so much in common. 🙂 orchestra was my favorite, too. Loved being in with the strings. I still prefer it over straight band music.
I wanted to play the piano but never took the time to learn it!
I can relate to that. I tried once, then life got in the way, and I never went back to it. I’d still love to have a piano in my home someday.
I’ve sung in choirs since I was in high school (30 years). I currently sing in a 100-voice community choir and treasure my involvement as I continually marvel at the talents of my fellow singers. I’m so glad you and your family members enjoy making music, a hobby to be enjoyed one’s entire life.