Everything I know, I learned on a Piano Bench

Everything I know, I Learned on a Piano Bench

As a 9-year-old boy, I used to dread sitting at the family spinet, monotonously mangling the dreaded Hanon scales and wishing I could grab my outfielder's mitt and run out to the street by my house to play "heads up" with my friends. Why couldn't I trade Bach for baseball like Stan did, forgo Fauré like Gary, or dump Debussy for a day at the pool like Paul? Suffice it to say, I hated practicing the piano.

Fortunately, though I thought I knew everything about everything  at the ripe old age of 9 years and 5 months, my wise parents knew that the dreaded scales, ear-training, and recitals would teach me much more than music. In a word, music would make me "human."

After a lifetime of music and the arts, it's no wonder that I also seek harmony, melodiousness, and intonation in all aspects of my life. Though I may have an aptitude in things musical, I believe strongly that every human prefers consonance to dissonance, finds being "in tune" with someone else preferable to discord in a relationship, and finds a melodious peace antidotal to chaotic cacophony. Simply put, humanities make us "human."

But, unfortunately, it seems that we live in an increasingly chaotic world that has set its volume permanently at eleven. The din of war, in many places around the globe, drown out beautiful melodies of peace and unity. The fog of hate keeps blinded eyes from seeing the art and beauty surrounding them. And the poetry of faith and hope are replaced with despair and doubt. If ever there were contrapositives to creativity, it would be battle and bloodshed.

So, why is it then, that when our world commanders, chieftains, and generals attempt to bring peace and unity to their various corners of the world, they only reach for weapons. They spew hateful hyperbole and thunderous threats, made even louder by a ceaseless barrage of news coverage and punditry. Even those professing deep religious beliefs now hold them up as self-righteous shields justifying their vengeance and protecting them from blame.

For me, these leaders need to take their itching fingers off the trigger and place them on a piano keyboard. They will feel peace of the enveloping harmony and melody while driving away dissonance and discord. Hatred will find no note in sonorous chords that replace dividing dogma with  inspired doxology.

Let's find leaders who have not lost their humanity, who possess the creativity to find peaceful, constructive, and lasting solutions. Better yet, let's find that creative beauty in ourselves. And if you can't see it, I know right where it is......on the piano bench.

~ Kurt

(The following is a piano piece composed last year and found on my new album: Kurt Bestor & The Collective "Outside the Lines.")