The Journey to Perfection

“I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”*

Our friends Dick and Molly came over to our house for a “concert watch party” with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra one evening recently. Even though it has been severely impacted during the past year, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has continued to provide beautiful music virtually for people around the world.  Al and I have watched most of the concerts at home on the computer and have enjoyed them greatly. It has especially been fun seeing close-up shots of our daughter, Shanda, playing her viola.

The musical director of the DSO, Jader (pronounced Yader) Bignamini brings a love and passion for music that communicates to the audience as well as to the musicians. Because he feels that it is important to maintain eye contact with the members of the orchestra during the performance, he memorizes the entire score beforehand!

Memorizing the score involves learning the music for not just one but for each instrument’s part! How does he do it? Jader uses different colored markers and symbols as he goes through the score from cover to cover beforehand  to help him remember important cues like changes in the volume or tempo. The whole process must require days of intense study.

 His ultimate goal is to help the musicians interpret whatever they are playing as near as possible to the composer’s original expectations, what he describes as “musical perfection.” To do this, the conductor has to immerse himself in the music so that he is not just familiar with it, but has it internalized. The realization that they are on this journey together relieves the musicians of the burden of perfectionism, but also encourages them to constantly strive for improvement.

It was a pleasant evening… listening to the concert, feasting on “Michigan Four Berry” pie—a treat furnished by Dick and Molly—and seeing several great close-up shots of Shanda. Of course, Al was and is the “proud paPA!”

 Jader communicated with the members of the orchestra throughout the performance using his baton, hand motions and facial expressions. His talented conducting combined with their musicianship resulted in an impressive performance by the musicians.

. The next evening, Al and I were able to watch Shanda and the DSO in another livestreamed concert as they accompanied a wonderful violinist, “Midori,” who played Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Again, Jader had no music in front of him.

Midori also had memorized the difficult piece. In fact, she had played it so many times, that she could lay her cheek on her violin and close her eyes while playing!

It was an awe-inspiring performance by everyone involved. Perfection? To these amateur ears, it seemed to be so. But using Jader’s words, attaining musical perfection in executing a particular selection of music is a journey until there is very little difference between what the audience hears from the musicians and what the composer intended. He “maps out the music for the orchestra so that it can find the buried treasure!”

Just think of the number of people through the centuries whose lives have been enriched in this way and of those who have been motivated to play an instrument, conduct an orchestra or participate in any of the arts.

When we hear the word perfection, especially in respect to the way God expects us to live, we often react with the thought, “That is impossible!” However, God has mapped out the way, through faith in Jesus Christ. As we saturate ourselves in His Word and set our hearts on following Jesus, changes begin happening until what God desires for us becomes also what we desire.

God, our creator, has a plan for each of us. First and foremost in that plan is to have a personal relationship with Him. Not only does He want us to be with Him forever as part of His family, He also wants us to walk with Him day by day, to love and obey Him.

  May we desire to participate in that journey towards spiritual perfection through the power of the Holy Spirit and may we inspire others to do the same!

*Philippians 3:10-12 NIV