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Show The Ogden Valley news Volume XX Issue XIII Page 11 August 1, 2012 The Excellence of Music By Lara Kolkow Music is the language of our emotions. It excites and motivates, but it also pacifies and relaxes. It moves us to laugh, and moves us to cry. Music captures the subtlety of expression where words alone often fail. It collapses communication and cultural barriers. Music is our irreplaceable inheritance passed on to us from the myriad of cultures and tongues of the human race. Music is a precious and excellent gift from God; and it should be thoughtfully created, preserved, and guarded. Our contemporary society is teeming with fast and lazy mediocrity. This statement is indeed very blunt, but I am terribly afraid it is true. We are hard-pressed today with continual opportunities for instant gratification—fast food, fast money, and fast music. As a society, we expect to get what we want when we want it—instantly. Please do not misunderstand me; as I am not for abolishing McDonalds, loans, and Pandora. I’ve enjoyed good benefits from these things for certain! But my point is that our contemporary culture at large is endangering something we should all be guarding carefully: the excellence of music. For the sake of clarity, it is crucial to define musical excellence. When something is excellent, it is surpassing in value; it has a great intrinsic worth. It is not over-achieving, and it is not perfection. But neither is it lazy passivity. Excellence is giving your best: the best of both quality and effort. Because every person is unique, the way in which each person excels will also be unique, for no two people were meant to be the same. This definition of excellence presents the individual creative aspect of music. The word “musical” gives us our standard for the definition of excellence; it is the category of excellence we are pursuing, so to speak. Please realize, however, that it would be a serious mistake to dichotomize your attitude towards your music pursuits from your attitude towards the pursuit of excellence in general; frankly, I do not believe that you will be a good musician unless you pursue excellence as a lifestyle; for your music is merely an extension of who you are as a whole person. This is a foundational thought behind teaching my students to play as musicians of integrity; that is, as who they are as a whole person, and not simply trying to copy another artist. Music gives us the standard in which we are trying to excel and to which we must conform. Absolutely essential to any musician is self-discipline. You must train yourself to play excellently, just as a runner must train himself for a race. The training must not be too intense or you will break; but it also must not be to easy or you will not excel. A heart for what you are pursuing is absolutely essential, because there will be lessons and practice times that are not fun, but very healthy for the learning musician. Excellent music happens where individual creativity and adherence to the standard meet and meld together. It is rare. It is powerful. It is precious and something that is worth preserving. Our current cultural stance in this country towards music is a serious threat, but especially so to children who never have been, and may never be exposed to the wonderful musical inheritance we’ve been given as Americans. We greatly need individuals to take part in the challenge to carefully create, preserve, teach, and guard beautiful, quality music for our kids, and eventually for their kids too! Young children are incredibly, perhaps instinctively, musical. And they are brilliant— if you take the time and effort (it’s not much) to introduce excellent music into their world, it will have an incredible and lasting impact for them as budding musicians. Older children are more ready to actually learn music. Personally, I believe that schoolage children are exceptionally ready for music lessons. They tend to be very active and imaginative--qualities which are valuable for a music student--and they have not had much time yet to develop harmful music habits. Good music can be very, very powerful and helpful in the transitional life of a teenager. Some tough life lessons happened for me in those years, and I cannot express how much my music studies meant then because they incorporated skill, healing, work, thinking, and expression into my life. And, obviously, excellent music is a very healthy thing for the adult student. It is wonderful how there are so many resources available now for study through the web, libraries, concerts, universities, etc.! If you are an adult who has never had the time or opportunity to study music; but have a strong desire to do so, I would greatly encourage you to consider your plethora of options available today. Find a cheap, used instrument, and at least get your feet wet in the world of music. You may realize what you’ve been missing! Even if you end up deciding the musician route is not for you, I hope you learn enough to pass on the value of excellent music to others. Personally I believe very strongly in the pursuit of excellence. This is foundational to my beliefs as a Christian; that all I do should be done to bring glory to my excellent God. I cannot be perfect, indeed there is no need for me to be perfect because Jesus Christ was the perfect sacrifice for my sins. But He has now given me a new heart to show others how intrinsically excellent He is by my own music. If you would like to hear some of my recordings please visit my website at <www.chesedresonancemusic.com> No one can be a perfect musician, but we can be excellent ones. And at the end of the day, there is nothing quite like being able to take up your instrument with the skill and intentional integrity to produce good music. This is how I teach my music classes at High Altitude Kids. Our goal is to help your children develop into outstanding community members. So as musicians, you see, in the end it’s not about how many chords and riffs you can play, how much theory you can remember, or how many notes you can read. These are steps, essential steps but only steps, to the end goal of excellent musicianship. As residents of Ogden Valley, we live in a small corner of this great nation where we can still do something to preserve excellent music in our community. Please take the time to think about your family’s stance on music. It will make a lasting impact on the world around you; for mediocrity or for excellence. And always feel free to send me an email; it would be a privilege to answer any questions I can, or give you some resource ideas on this subject. Note: Lara Kolkow is a music teacher for High Altitude Kids in Eden. She says she has a passion for quality music and effective teaching. A self-motivated learner, yet having studied with accomplished musicians, she has played guitar for 13 years (acoustic methods and classical style), the djembe drum and piano for 7 years, and is a singer. She has had vast experience playing with bands and choirs, and has been a teacher/instructor in numerous capacities with various age groups, from young children to adults. This last year Lara received training in early childhood education, which she is excited to incorporate into preschool music classes. She is currently pursuing a Master Certificate in Music Theory, Harmony, and Ear Training through an extension program of Berklee College of Music. You can contact Lara at <chesedresonance@gmail.com> Guitar and Drum Lessons Offered for Children and Adults Classical Rock Blues Jazz, Country or Folk Mike Johnson Iverson Dental Hosts 9th Annual Pool Party: Thanks community Iverson Dental in Eden recently hosted their enjoys the evening, and it’s one of the highninth annual pool party to say thank you to all of their “wonderful” patients. Dr. Vern Iverson and his wife Kim stated, “The gathering allows us to spend some enjoyable time with our customers outside of the office. We rent out the swimming pool for the evening and provide an entire meal for our clients—all free—so they can spend a night out with their families on us. All our staff really lights of our year.” Dr. Iverson has been practicing dentistry in Ogden Valley for 24 years. He and Kim add, “Our lives have been very blessed by the many good people here; what a privilege it is to not only live here, but also work here. We feel especially grateful for the love and support our family has received these past 20 months.” Having fun at Iverson Dental’s pool party. Iverson Dental staff and family members. Ogden Valley Volunteers Helping out on primary election day are pictured from left to right Darla LonghurstVanZeeben, Colleen Camp, Dennis Brown, and Linda Brown. Valley Market Customer Appreciation Day Valley Market held their Annual Customer Appreciation on June 16, and event many look forward to each summer. Trappers Ridge Eden’s Premier Planned Community Trappers Ridge is a planned community on the north bench of Eden, with commanding views of Pineview, Snowbasin, Ben Lomond and all the beauty in between. Powder Mountain is just 6 miles to the north. Residents of Trappers enjoy a lovely clubhouse (pictured here) with year round in-ground spa, fitness center, seasonal pool with incredible views, and tennis & basketball court. HOA handles landscape maintenance and zoning allows nightly rentals. Fully upgraded 7 bedroom, 5 bath home with three living levels, “the BIG view,” gourmet kitchen, gathering rooms on each level and alder wood upgrades throughout. Strong rental history. Furnishings negotiable. $699,000. Short Sale. Lara Kolkow Private and Group Guitar Instruction 4786 E 2600 N Eden 801-745-2653 www.hakutah.com Register now for Private Kindergarten Program, Preschool for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds Desirable Telluride III single level floor plan is kind to your knees after a full day of activity. Spacious open floor plan is ideal for entertaining, with 3 bedroom/3 baths and granite upgrades. Water feature out back provides seasonal serenity. $359,000. Furnishings negotiable. Tenant in place, purchase now for future enjoyment! 6 bed/4 bath home on 3 levels is on a quiet cul-desac with many extras and west facing view of Wolf Mtn. & Ben Lomond. Expanded rear patio allows full enjoyment of in-ground spa. Three car garage and “toy” closet. $499,000. Furnishings negotiable. Barry Van, ABR, CRS, GRI (800) 853-7414 barryjvan@earthlink.net |
