Meno

It is with great joy that I welcome the month of October since it is my birthday month. Can you believe that a whole month has already gone by since our last issue? I hope that the past several weeks brought you at least a few moments of silence and relaxation. I also pray that you will continue to find great encouragement in the thought that God is in control of everything in your life. He is in control of the crazy schedule, the mounting pile of laundry, the exorbitant bills, the incessant pace of deadlines, the relational heartaches, and everything else that may jostle you. May you rest in God and feel thoroughly blessed and secure in the hollow of His masterful hands!

This month, my attention turns to the musical term "meno." It is an Italian word that simply means "less" in English. In music, meno can be used as a means to achieve contrasts especially in terms of nuances of tempo, articulation, and dynamics. In fact, boredom is settled easily in the minds of audience members when all they hear is a sameness of delivery in the performer's approach to sound production and communication. Just as God included variety in His creation, we are also inclined to seek a variety of colors, tastes, shapes, and textures in our music. To that end, meno provides the type of moderation that is required in order to achieve a product that is rich in timbre and meaning.

This moderation or restraint implies that great control is being exercised somewhere. It could be from the performer or it could emanate from another authority such as a studio instructor or a conductor. Some directives that are often given to performers are:

*Less shouty
*Less strident
*Less wordy
*Less mechanical
*Less flashy
*Less analytical
*Less notey
*Less bangy

One that I particularly like is, "Less showy. Why don't you try to let the music speak for itself?"

That particular directive makes me realize that I need to trust the music itself. I need to let go of my need to control it myself and simply let it come out through me as I trust the process given to me. Yet, how often do I try to muscle it out, or try very hard to sell it out to the audience? How often do I see well-meaning students deliver a poor performance simply because they would not get out of the way and let the music flow out of them? How often do I hear trumpet players miss the highest point of the Haydn concerto because they were pressing too much and not letting the air carry their sound? In all of those cases, if less of self could be applied, a much more effective harvest would be reaped.

The issue at hand is that in both music and life, we tend to focus on the result and forget about the process. We believe that we must achieve more of X. It seems imperative that we make it happen since it appears that nobody else is going to do it for us. We have learned to become our own "gods," accustomed to the wielding of our own whims and desires as the underlying fortitude of our labor. If we are honest, none of us would deny that our world functions with the prevailing notion that “more is better.” “More is better" is the phrase that feeds our hunger for a life of entitlement. We are convinced that we can only become happy if we have more. In music, we want more high notes, more virtuosity, more recognition, more applause, more crowd, more excitement, more of more. In life, we want more stuff, more money, more power, more drinks, more entertainment, more sex, more license to do as we please, more of self. We are infatuated with the desire for more, a desire that will lead us straight to our death. It is an addictive behavior that will never satisfy.

It is sad to thing that such thinking has also entered the life of the bride of Christ. We, who call ourselves followers of Christ, should be different. Yet, we, too, want more programs, more church members, more of this music vs that music, more of this style of preaching as opposed to that one, more money, more ease, more fun, more of everything. We churchshop until we find the one that matches our escalation formula for personal success and fulfillment instead of finding a place where God is calling us to serve. It seems to me that Christ has called us to a life of sacrifice that replaces "more" with another four-letter word: meno or less. When we use less of self, then there is room for more love from Him, more strength from Him, more of His hand in our interactions. Our focus on meno adds new meaning to the phrase, "Less is more" as it relates directly to the words spoken by John the Baptist on behalf of our Savior in John 3:30,

"He must become greater; I must become less."

What a perfect example of selflessness!

So, as we seek to do our work as musicians and thinkers, our lives need to be about more of Him and less of us. How unpopular! How selfless, yet, how true! My prayer for you, dear friends, is to exude Christ more and more as you endeavor to be more fruitful with your talents, time, toil, and treasure. I pray that whatever success you experience will serve as a sacrifice of praise to our Redeemer, Savior, and King. I also pray that even our friendship will be about Christ more and more and less and less about us.

"Grant to us, O generous Lord, a grateful heart that will keep us content with your provision in our lives. Annihilate greed in us so that we may be free from the bondage of entitlement and the need to accumulate more of everything. Help us to be generous when your blessings overflow. Amen."

May our love for Christ be undying and may our love for each other be worshipful!

In Christ alone!