Music Box

“In the Shadow of the Almighty” W. Hartmann (b. 1953) Improvisation First of all, there’s an important (and hopefully interesting) clarification I need to make about last week’s Music Box. That M-Box was about the sentence in the Lord’s Prayer “Give us this day our EPIOUSIOS bread,” and we explored how “EPIOUSIOS” is a Greek…

Easter Prelude              C. Callahan Susan Addington, Flute Improvisation Bankei Yotaku (1622-1693) was one of the most renowned Japanese Zen Masters. His father was a Confucian scholar and a samurai who turned to the practice of medicine. In school, Bankei studied the usual Confucian classics, which confused him greatly. So…

Last week I talked about ‘sources’ and ‘sinks’. Namely, that in electronics there is the concept of ‘sources’ and ‘sinks’. That an electronics ‘source’ provides current to a circuit (for example, a battery), while a ‘sink’ consumes electricity (for example, a light bulb). And I talked about a bit about how to metaphorically apply this…

Andante                            L. Beethoven (1785-1827) [PIANO] Improvisation Thomas Merton was a 20th-century Trappist monk, writer, theologian, mystic, and poet, best known for his exploration of spirituality and social justice. Born in 1915, Merton entered the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky in 1941, where…

Autumn Rain                             W. Zeitler [PIANO] Improvisation One of Jesus’ more famous sayings is  “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6). The Greek word for ‘way’ is hODOS (pronounced “hah-DAHS”), and it has a lovely depth of meaning. The…

“All Glory, Laud and Honor”                           J.S.Bach (1685-1750) (Note: the hymn tune is played by the tuba & organ pedals, in slow motion.) Toccata                                         …

Fugue in E minor (BWV 548), “The Wedge” In many ways I think Lent is when the rubber meets the road, spiritually speaking. That is, religion and spirituality are all well and good when things are going well. But it can be challenging to feel their necessity in sunny times. However, when we face adversity,…

Prelude in Fm            J.S. Bach (1685-1750)   [PIANO] This week’s Gospel contains the enigmatic and impossible “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake and the gospel’s sake will save it.” (Mark 8:35) Like “Zen masters” everywhere, Jesus is superb at blowing…

“Vision”                                      W. Zeitler [ORGAN] Order of Chivalry: Truth & the Knight’s Lance     W. Zeitler   In former Music Boxes I’ve discussed the idea of ‘spiritual alchemy’. This is an idea pioneered by Carl Jung (1875-1961) —…