Motive

Have you heard the composition, "Peter and the Wolf"?  This specific piece of music has some repeating sections of MOTIVE - A short melodic or rhythmic idea that recurs throughout a musical composition. 

I've not played this piece probably since high school and not listened to it but one or two times over the last twenty five years, but I can still hear the passages and instruments depicting the specific characters of the story.  I hear the timpani which represent the hunters, the french horn which represents the wolf, the flute which represents the birds and the bassoon which represents Peter's grandfather.  In this elaborate composition, there are several short melodic or rhythmic ideas that recur often throughout the piece.  And the music would not be the same without them.  

Please enjoy this YouTube video of Prokovieff's "Peter and the Wolf" narrated by Boris Karloff:

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB66bInIXAY

In searching for a musical term to write about this week, this one struck me as motive relates to so many things in our lives.  And in thinking about this specific recording, this relates to our lives as well.  How so?  

• What is our motive behind doing something?
• Do we see a motive (recurring theme) that has occurred in our life?
• Does someone else have a motive for being kind or being dishonest?
• Do we continue to do something that might not be safe for us or those in our lives? 
• Is there someone in our lives reminding us of what we should be doing with our life? 
• Have we learned from recurrences in or life or are we set to revisit our lives again and again?
• Do we have goals in our life (a motive/direction) to guide us in our decisions?  

Just as Prokovieff's "Peter and the Wolf" would not be what it is with out the motives, recurring themes throughout it, our lives and ourselves would not be the same without the experiences that have come before; some of them recurring over and over.  May we each ponder the motives (themes) in our lives so we can learn from them and the motives (goals) we desire for the future, so we can stay on track to achieve them, hopefully helping others on their way.  

What has helped you overcome or embrace motives (themes) that have come before?  What has helped you stay focused on future motives (goals)? 
Has music helped you at all in either capacity?   
What motives (plans) do you have with music in your lives for the future?  

Have you ever thought about hesitation in music?  Sometimes, when playing a difficult piece, and coming up on a most difficult passage, I hesitate, throwing off the cadence/beat pattern of the piece.  That is certainly not good hesitation. 

But a music term called Timoroso is actually good hesitation.  The word means to play a section of a piece of music timidly or with hesitation. 

Years and years ago (26 years ago, to be exact), I was awarded a half ride scholarship to Bethany Lutheran College.  I was also offered a full ride scholarship…that is if I chose to do music as my major.   So why wasn’t I ecstatic to jump at this opportunity?  Why did I hesitate with this opportunity being offered to me. 

First, I had different career goals.  My goal when high school ended was to do pre-med and study to become a reflexologist.  Studying music in no way would have helped me achieve that goal.  Or so I thought.

Second, though I had been playing violin for 10 years, doing private lessons for 7 and playing with advanced orchestras like pit orchestra and continental league orchestra, I doubted my abilities to play at college level.

Third, I never saw being a professional musician as a viable full time job.  Rather, I saw it as a full time job that would require a lot of side gigs in order to make ends meet.  Whether I had become a professional symphony player, a private lesson instructor, a public school teacher, a performer, a hobbyist. 

I look back on those reasons and realize that I was a very unwise young adult.  If I had taken advantage of that half ride scholarship I could have had some help to pay for my studies.  Or if I had taken advantage of the full ride scholarship, I could have at least focused on my generals for at least the first two years with those two years being paid for. 

If I had shared with others my fears about inadequacy, I might have received some reassurance.  I didn’t even share it in my prayers with my Heavenly Father.  I’m sure he could have provided some reassurance.  And I should have remembered that in studying music at the college level, I would have continued to progress.  I didn’t need to be perfect at the beginning…or really ever. 

My financial concern about being a professional musician and it not being a way to make ends meet was based on my own knowledge and not based on talking with professional musicians, or even talking with my orchestra/band teacher. 

I missed out on opportunity and growth due to fears.  And due to not talking out my options and desires with others.   I hesitated.  And sometimes I feel like I still do the same thing, hesitate to jump in to something outside my comfort zone.  Hesitate to engage fully in a goal.  Hesitate to embrace the unknown. 

How do you not allow hesitation to stifle your opportunities?  How do you embrace timoroso …going for it even if in only a timid, hesitant manner?