Watch Out!

Here's article number three from Ron Bergthold. Enjoy. ~Jon

Watch Out!

by Ron Bergthold

How do you get a rhythm guitarist to play softer? (Answer: Give him music to read.)

We’ve all done it, falling mentally asleep while counting five sets of 8-measure rests. Was that the 3rd or 4th set we just passed? Our eyes then search the director for a clue of when to come in. Sometimes the director has to admonish us with a “Watch me!” when our group appears too distracted or when he knows that we may miss an upcoming critical section in the piece.

I do not have to work hard to be distracted. I can effortlessly zone out or in an instant redirect my focus to the most trivial happening away from my intended purpose. Jesus knew there were enough people like me to give this warning in Luke 12:37a, “It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.” He hit a similar theme again in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.” The key word here is “watch”.

So if we individually watch well while playing, we will play more together as a group and more often notice upcoming key changes or accidentals and thus not hit (as many) wrong notes. It is a fundamental, but critical, step to take, since the consequences of not watching are often immediate and apparent to all. Reading God’s wisdom in the Bible and taking heed, trying to apply it to our lives, will provide a better opportunity for us to avoid temptations and their oft-followed sin. Watching well in our spiritual lives will certainly help us to avoid at least some of the potholes in life.

But watching just to avoid bad is somewhat of a chore and is a trap in which most new players get caught. The focus leans too heavily on just getting the right notes or rhythm and not on the ultimate purpose and beauty of playing good music. The second reason given above by Christ, from the Luke passage, indicates a much more exciting and critical motivation for us! If we are watching, Jesus said “It will be good…” for us. Knowing Jesus as the Author of good means this will not just be an ordinary good, but a very excellent good!

Think of a luxuriously enjoyable time in which you were either playing or listening to good music. Spine-tingling moments of a furious phrase within an energetic piece. The final coming together of a particularly challenging work that had been rehearsed over and over. A couple of measures of soft and sweet beauty at the tranquil ending of an inspired composition. Chances are the notes were right because of either maturity or rehearsal, but you didn’t listen and think “Wow, they got the notes right!” You instead pronounce the ultimate word of praise, “That was so good.”

And so, God is watching us, but not for wrong notes as many fear. Instead He seeks those moments in our lives when, through watchfulness, we catch such a good glimpse of Him we are overtaken by the beauty of His own music and can only utter words of praise to Him, “God, you are so good!”

For the TRBC Orchestra on September 10, 2008