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Yesterday
Recently I heard the song “Yesterday” by the Beatles and I was moved to tears. The memory of the loss of my beloved grandmother washed over me and I knew exactly the moment in time and the place. Quickly I returned to a time when I was a young girl of 13. I sensed that losing my grandmother would change my life, but I had no way of knowing how long it would take for me to understand it. I remember being in in her apartment after the loss. I liked being near her things. She had been an organist in the Methodist church and she had a small electric organ.…
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Music’s Power to Change
The past three weeks I have been hard at work practicing Mozart’s Requiem. Last week, I had the pleasure of performing this Requiem with a choir of 20 choristers and a small orchestra of 9 instrumentalists. During the rehearsals we were still learning this difficult piece. The night of the performance everything changed. The rhythm became faster and it was musically sound and passionate. Of course a lot has to do with practice, but most of all we had the audience. We came alive and our voices and instruments were inspired by Mozart’s marvelous work. Music has the power to transform us and affect our minds. When I sing I forget…
