Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
To Be Hardly Able to Hear, Yet Hearing

To Be Hardly Able to Hear, Yet Hearing

Last updated on: May 28, 2021 at 3:12 pm by John Mark N. Reynolds

To Be Hardly Able to Hear, Yet Hearing 2021-05-28T10:34:53-04:00 John Mark N. Reynolds

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I thought the concert would be glorious, but the music was hard work.

Let me tell about an experience in learning mostly failed by me, but where a few gleams of joy over time made all worthwhile. This might encourage someone else to try the same: hard music, new to you, played live, and learned through meditation.

All this began on never ending daytime in Russia.

We walked to the Opera House together, hand in hand, in Saint Petersburg, a city that had filled my dreams for forty years. Music is necessary and even if I am no musician myself, I know the necessity of good music.

One does what one can.

Hope Reynolds is a music educator and she was with me to help. The difficulty is that when she listens to music, she does not wish to talk about how to listen to music. This was a flaw at the very start of my plan. She was lost in the glory and I was not boor enough to interrupt.

The music was Wagner, and I have some passing familiarity with this composer. That would help. However, the particular opera, all about the Flying Dutchman, was not familiar to me and the subtitles and program were in Russian. This makes perfect sense given that we were in Russia, but given my ignorance of both German and Russian, the words were not going to make sense to me. There was, however, the music, and there was a great deal of music. Randy and Kate Gremillion, my primary opera teachers and our BFF’s, were many time zones asleep. No texts would save me.

Add jet lag and the game was afoot: could I stay awake?

The answer was: not altogether.

The music began, gloriously, though the air-conditioner was European not very cold, pretty warm, and so sleep, like hemlock in Socrates, began to rise from my feet to my head. Things were, I think, happening in Norway, a country rarely of interest to anyone not from Norway or Minnesota.

I was left only with the music.

Earnest music teachers, once upon a childhood, had me draw, imagine stories, make a mental Fantasia of the music, but there was too much Russian pulchritude dashing about on stage to allow for these tricks.

There was only the music, more music, and even more music.

I hardly could hear, but could not help hearing. Slowly, between nods, I began to listen. There only was music and the music seized me, not for long, I was not educated enough for the full revelation of glory, but I knew to persist through the “boredom” and the tedium. Eventually, I began to listen only to the music. My mind found a rest that words could not give me.

I love words, but music could do something words could not do. My heart, soul, and mind became united wordlessly. Somehow I got “it,” whatever it is, for a few brief seconds. This took minutes of dozing, fighting to hear, and then suddenly snapping to attention. There were stabs of joy, very few and far between.

All was well.

This was predictable, given that I was listening to world class music by wonderful musicians. This was what my soul needed, even if I had not prepared to run the distance. Everything about the concert was splendid, I was the problem. Accepting this, like any visitor to another land, made all the difference. The land of music began to open up.

This was harder than I should have tried: like an overweight man running a marathon first!

Yet between my puffs and wheezes, I could see what was there. And so I kept trying (the Ring Cycle in Houston!).

I kept thinking and feeling about what I had seen and heard. Reading helped, but mostly I persisted and slowly began to learn. I kept thinking, even tonight, about what I had heard. Mostly, my heart tried to recollect what the music was and is.

What is it to hear music and not just think about music?

Something like giving over the intellect, heart, and body to the musicians. If they can be trusted, then one comes out better than one came into the concert. That is very good: a shortcut to glory!

The work grows less hard over time, mayhap, but the glory no more surprising. Great music challenges odd crevices that even written philosophy hardly can reach. There is, in the best music, a precision, a mathematical rigor, that combines with passion. We are moved to think and think erotically.

Let the choir sing! Let the band play on!

Joy brings music, disaster is made meaningful with music. Those of us who must struggle to hear, must keep trying, because the reward, the sheer delight, is so much greater than what we put into the effort. We begin slowly, full of sleepiness, but suddenly shiver in delight. I can hardly hear, but I can hear.

The little bit we hear is so great, if we keep recollecting, then the little will multiply. We will have enough and to spare: what we need with abundance.

On Education

Previous Post

May 27, 2021

Not Just Cake: Why Music Matters

Next Post

May 29, 2021 Even a Dog Gets a Treat: Man Needs Bread, but not Just Bread Alone

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Apologetics Art Culture Education On Books On Education Philosophy Politics Pop Culture Spiritual Reflections Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 July 2025 June 2025 September 2024 July 2024 June 2024 December 2023 June 2023 September 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: John's Gospel does not record any parables.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE

Books by This Author John Mark Reynolds

See All Titles »