Excerpt
Chapter 1 – Dissonance
Contrary to widespread opinion in Christian circles, the Voices of Gabriel choir works hard to produce what appears to be effortless music. “No pain, no gain,” they say.
For that reason, in the well-lit, but poorly acoustically endowed basement amphitheatre of the Temple in the Sky, we rehearsed a difficult passage for the third time, finally producing the elusive ephemeral chords, achieving the lingering dissonance, and evoking the wonderfully cathartic pathos which the composer intended.
Making contrasting chords sound angelic isn’t easy, but Cindy, our fabulous director, has a gift of musical interpreta¬tion. The blend of what seemed to be conflicting notes was now performed perfectly. Cindy jumped, applauded, and shouted Hallelujah! to give vent to emotions of joy because we, her friends and mentees, had finally reached another milestone of musical excellence. Meanwhile, the typically straight-laced Bobby displayed an uncharacter¬istic, hard-to-elicit smile of approval as he swayed seemingly precariously from his perch at the Hammond console.
The musical segment had been truly angelic, full of pathos, unlike some of the members of the choir who shall remain nameless, at least for now, lest I get ahead of myself. What good is a yarn if you give it all away at the outset? [No fair peeking ahead to the end of the book, either. I’m watching you.]
Were it not for my new husband’s twenty-five year attachment to this choir, I definitely would have been out of there. Despite their angelic sound, some of them [or some of us] had some real issues. Far be it from me to try to correct them all. But…if you will come a little closer, I may whisper something in your ear.
Listen. Pssst…. Many of us are seriously afflicted by that which is unseen, unrealized, and not understood, but pain¬fully, obviously present. The downside is that we remain clueless to that fact. Well, that’s enough for now. Let’s get back to the choir.