Instruments

I still find it astonishing that we can  make music out of a  wooden object trussed up with strings or the haunting melodies that issue from a pipe with holes. These simple articles pour forth the sweetest of tunes and the most enchanting rhythms.

The shining surface of a well-polished lightly stained wood finish guitar, the elegant neck of curved and silky timber,  long and flawless, the strings scintillating with the brightness of a new copper penny, waiting to be the birthplace of the next timeless classic, the fret board dark and rich, begging with every fibre of it’s being for you to press upon the strings so it can gently kiss them to create a new harmony.

The majesty of a grand piano as it sits, spotlight-grabbing just off the stage-center of a large auditorium, the taut strings, hidden from view, just longing with passionate eagerness for the evening to arrive, at which time it deigns to fill the expectant audience with the fulfillment they never knew they needed. The black ebony of the sharps and flats, in stark comparison against the ivory keys of the majors, stretching out to meet the dazzling reflections of the limelight in its dark, glossy mirror.

A humble, yet powerful instrument of light wind and strong gusts, the flute chirruping with the gusto of newly hatched birds tweeting with the dawn of life after a cold, dark winter, singing with joy at the fresh bloom of spring. The flute, with tunes of a pliable nature, moving with one accord at the impediment of one hole after the other, drifting with ease to the heights of a new note.

The sound of violins as they complete the sounds of music by drawing on reverberations of angelic quality and soulful unity, the resonances formed by the pull of bow on strings pulled tight over the curvature of the slits that serve as sound holes. The bow flying, as if conducting an orchestra, fill a room with unheard beckonings to an unforeseen calling.

Or the awesome, dominating power of the drums as they boom without restraint, pounding a beat, along with which all must acquiesce, setting the tempo and the emphasis that a song or a melody necessitates.

It never ceases to amaze me at the mesmerizing awe these instruments command or the recognition and respect their players gain in escalating relation to their proficiency, pulling and plucking, skimming and strumming, blowing and booming to the sound of an eternal harmony.