The Gift of C# Minor

The Rhine Falls in Switzerland.  The sound of the falls is like music, in varying keys.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of C # Minor

“Music is the universal language of mankind.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

C# minor.  What a key. 

It has 4 sharps that make it an interesting key.

There is C#, G#, F# and D#. 

All black keys. 

Those sharps can be a difficult key in which to play but those small changes in tonality can produce a beautiful melody. 

The bumps, the elevation of the keys are much like life for you and me. 

There are days when our melody is in the key of C.

No sharps, no flats, just a clear path on the scale from C.

Other days we encounter sharps in our life situation. 

Those sharps, those bumps can serve as a lesson.  

To grow, to learn, much like a piano lesson.

Because those sharps can help us to see that life is one Beautiful harmony.

In music there are a variety of keys that a musician can play.  The key of C is quite possibly the easiest key to play because there are no sharps or flats.  Sharps basically make the note higher by a ½ step.  A flat makes the tone or note lower by a ½ step.  As a pianist, there are times when I see a key and think, ugh.  I don’t want to play in this key.  But, is not a scale or a tone much like life?  Think about a lot of the most beautiful pieces in history.  The Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven was written in C# Minor.  Chopin, the great pianist wrote many a piece in C# minor.  He thought it was so beautiful he wrote a Waltz in C# minor.  Even Bach, who I consider to be the absolute epitome of musicality wrote a Prelude and Fugue in C# minor.  If these pioneers of classical music can take a minor key and make an absolutely gorgeous melody what can we do when we encounter a day where it just seems like everything is in C# minor?  We can weave those moments, those C# minor moments into the melody and harmony of life. If you were to look at the song of your life what would it be?  In the key of C?  I doubt many folks have led a life with no sharps or flats.  I think of Beethoven who wrote some of the greatest pieces in his life after he lost his hearing.  He wrote his 9th symphony with no real way to hear it.  That is absolutely mind boggling.  If you have never heard it the song that is the most well known was Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee.  This Symphony was more than 1 hour long!  I often think, why did Beethoven keep writing even after he could not hear those melodious tones?  I really believe he kept those sharps, those flats, those melodious key signatures in his heart and soul.  So much so that he could compose very intricate pieces that have stood the test of time. Let us take those moments, those moments of C# minor and weave it into the symphony of our life.