Threads

We have entered that point in our life where we have at least six points of connection, not to Kevin Bacon, but to lots of people and lots of institutions. This morning Pastor Grace's sermon about collaboration, connection, and care set me on a journey to examine the threads of our lives. 

Collaboration

It kind of all started when a church friend complimented me on this morning's music. I mean, it was pretty awesome with hymns and readings in several languages representing the many ethnicities who attend First United Methodist Church of Evanston. We also had breads representing different cultures in our area.

I was explaining to that friend why Ave Verum Corpus, written by Mozart in 1791, means so much to most singers. We sang it this morning in church choir as our transitional piece into our Worldwide Communion observance. Most of our choir knows it by heart, and our assistant director gently conducted this masterpiece of choral arranging, while our organist supported us with sensitivity. 

For me, the piece brings back poignant memories and I have sung it from memory for more years than I care to admit. It was near the terminal point of my high school musical career, and I was chosen to be in the Ohio All-State Chorus. One of the songs on that concert was Ave Verum Corpus and it was my first experience in singing with 300 other musicians who connected with me and this piece of music on a soul-deep level.

Since that memorable day, I have sung it in pretty much every choir and I can still see the faces of friends who sang it with me. Some have gone to their musical chair in heaven and some are still making heavenly music here on earth; it is a treasure to have had the collaborative experience of choral singing throughout my life. 

One cannot make a heavenly sound on Ave Verum Corpus without four equal parts -- it is a motet, and is subtly polyphonic, which means multiple voices. And that is exactly what requires the collaboration of the group of people singing it, with each vocal part ebbing and flowing in support of each other. Ave Verum Corpus is the epitome of musical collaboration.

Connection

Music connects human beings in ways that other mediums would like to do. In this version of Ave Verum Corpus, Leonard Bernstein is clearly deeply connected to this piece about the death of Jesus Christ. He does not have to be a Christian to understand the connection he and his musicians are making. 

Ave verum corpus, K. 618 (Live)

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Leonard Bernstein, Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks

YouTube provides us the opportunity to go down musical rabbit holes and find gems such as this version of Ave Verum Corpus, performed in a flash mob setting in a mall in Torino, Italy. Equally moving, it is really clever to see how the singers differentiated themselves by wearing flair in the color of their voice section. Even in this setting, the shoppers are enthralled by this beautiful piece of music and are making the same connection as the congregation of my church did this morning.

Torino, Galleria Subalpina

27 ottobre 2013

Mattia Bena video editing

Care

And then there are the other metaphorical threads of life, the collaboration and connections you make with people beyond the connections of musical lives. I have been privileged to be a part of a group of people with literal thread, my quilting and sewing sisters. Over the years, they have helped me to grow as a quilter, and through their love and care, I have been able to produce quilts that I could never have done on my own.

I've been trying to vacuum off the threads on my design board, a flannel grid contraption that I use to place my quilt pieces on as I work on each quilt. They are proving quite stubborn, and I think I hear my mom telling me that it's unnecessary. Some of those threads are from the fabric pieces I inherited from my mother, and maybe they just need to stay there as I complete this quilt that intertwines my beloved mother and me, long after she has passed away.

If you are still reading this, by now you have probably figured out that you are one of the valued threads in my life's quilt. Thank you for being with me on this journey.