If you . . . Part 1

ask me which musical instrument I prefer, I will always say, "the piano, of course."

The violin is fine, all strings are fine; horns, fine; woodwinds, fine. I have no use for the flute, however, but that's another story.

It's the piano. Perhaps because I grew up hearing it in my home. My mother played well and taught piano for most of her life. I didn't love her lessons, but I loved it when she played, and I always liked hearing Janeen practice and play, too.

So, for me, it's the piano. I'm listening to the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 right now. It is glorious.

That said, as we say these days, I heard something on BYU campus a couple of years ago that surprised me. What surprised me was its pure beauty and how much I loved it.

The musical selection announced was O, Divine Redeemer, Gounod's magnificent, pleading prayer to the Savior to have mercy, to save.  The words are perfectly matched to the music.

See, I know the piece well, have sung it many times and heard it sung, seen my mother direct it, have directed it myself.

But this day, as the piece was announced, one man went to the organ and another man stood with his saxophone. I thought it an unlikely pairing, thought the saxophone an unlikely, maybe highly unlikely, solo instrument for this piece of music. And where would be those words I wanted to hear? In short, I was doubtful.

You know what is coming. I'm about to tell you how wonderful that rendition was, how deeply moving, how that mellow, pleading sound went straight into my soul. How it brought tears to my eyes and brought the words to my mind. Truly, I was carried away, away from myself and into the loveliness of that music. It's a long piece of music, but that day it was not long enough. I could have listened to it all again.

I loved it.

And I could see that the saxophone player loved it, too. He loved the music. I saw that in his face and heard it in his playing. I could hear the same love in the organist's playing. What a perfect duet. How unusual. How beautiful.

That love, the way musicians have of getting their hearts so thoroughly involved in what they're doing that they lose themselves in the music, was--and always is--crucial to the performance and to my hearing and deep feeling for the music that day. I would love to hear it again

So, while for me it's the piano, I am not closed-minded on this matter. Obviously, I love a good saxophone solo.