All that Jazz

To My Reader,
The other day I was driving home from work when I saw a sign for the San Antonio Symphony Orchestra. It brought back a flood of memories of performances, tours, and the many late long practices. Any musician will tell you that practice isn't a part of music, it is the way of music. A few years back, I arrived at Colorado Christian University as a Music Major. It was a wonderful time of my life. I learned so much while I was there. My absolute favorite part of CCU's music program was Mainstream, their Jazz Band. When I came in I remember knowing that in music existed Major and Minor scales. This is important because in Jazz music there is a ton of solo sections and during them, a musician improvs a solo over what the band continues to play. These sections usually had their chords structures labeled out so by chords so the musician can know what to play during these solos. In order to know what notes fit well here, you must know your scales and which ones fit during this time. However, As i would find out, sometimes playing these scales I knew didn't sound right as I played them. They didn't fit well. Because of that when it came time for me to solo, I was usually rushed, flustered, and in a constant state of distressed worried that someone would figure out I really had no idea what I was doing. After a gig I would desperately wait for someone to tell me I had played well or that it sounded good. I later found out that the two different set of scales I had known, were not all there was. There was many many scales to learn. More so, they had confusing names and required a great amount of diligence to master by memory. For a while after finding this information, I just continued in what I had been doing, struggling to get through my solo, knowing that wasn't the best it could be. I remember watching our guitarist, David Vanderham solo. He could play so well and seemed to know perfectly what notes to play when. When David played, everyone knew David knew what he was doing. I wanted to be able to play like he did. I knew that I could have actually played like David if I had figured out these scales and practiced them diligently.

I have found that this is really similar in my relationship with Jesus. I have learned so much about the different spiritual disciples and yet sometimes I don't practice them. Being in the Word and prayer daily sometimes eluding my priorities. Spending time talking and listening to what God has to tell me isn't always my focus. Though, if I want to be more than I am. To truly be a follower of Christ full heartedly, completely I must practice these things daily. I must practice and read the scriptures because when the times comes to do that 'improve solo' I will play like David did, beautifully and with understanding, rather than like myself, who desperately grabbed at any note that I could play. Everyday we face times where life requires us to improve, and yet we are not practicing. Living "the way" isn't the easiest thing to do. It requires discipline which many of us do not enjoy doing. Music is truly made when a musician knows what they are playing. In this life, we can shine when those times come by enduring the days where it seems as though nothing is happening, where we have 'better' things to do, when we want to give up. There is always hope. Lets hope for the day when we all make music when the time comes.

simply,
tex g.m. rule