Like Jazz

I love jazz music. It's an art form that I grew to appreciate in high school: playing it, watching people play it, listening to it, and learning about it. I played the 1st (the lead, or most important) saxophone partin the MCHS Jazz Band. Or at least I did, until my senior year of high school, when a sophomore who practiced a lot more than I did beat me out; but that's another thought, another story.

But it's related to the hard fact that I never really practiced outside of class. I would show up for zero period @ 7:10 AM every morning, play for 50 minutes, and I would never my saxophone outside of class. This leads me to two of the great truths of jazz music (and life): you have to practice, and you have to know your scales. One of the most beautiful (and hard) parts of playing jazz is the opportunity to improvise, to play whatever you feel like, whenever you feel like it. You might not realize this, but a large majority of jazz, good jazz, consists of improvisation. Phenomenal jazz players like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis played improvised solos on some of their recordings that are still being analyzed and performed note for note today, decades after their passing. I say good jazz, because you might think (at least I did, when I was in middle school) that since it's just whatever I feel, shouldn't it be easy? Great players make their improvisation seem like second nature, but in truth they spend upwards of 3 hours practicing every day, playing through their scales, listening to other players play, and performing in groups. Practicing and playing are probably pretty self-explanatory, but you might not know exactly what a "scale" is.

See, a scale is simply a series of notes: scales are in essence the building blocks of music. Great players internalize them to the point where they are second nature, so that when the time comes to play, there is no hesitation; just sweet, sweet tunes, straight from the heart.

For me, the eternal, unchanging truths of GOD are my scales. I strive to practice them daily, and hide them away in my heart so that GOD can tell the story of his Son through me. And when I teach, when I share my heart, when I study the Word, I take the truth and tell my own story over it and through it, illuminating different factets of the Gospel and raising up fresh thoughts of eternity and overtones of hope and grace. My hope is that I decrease and GOD increases so much in my life that my life is simply the melody of GOD'S kingdom come; my desire is to know GOD so intimately that I can simply love him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength... GOD, tune my heart to sing thy grace. I think I'm going to go practice. See you soon.

I love you, LORD, and I lift my voice,
to worship you, oh my soul, rejoice;
take joy, my KING, in what you hear,
let it be a sweet, sweet, sound in your ear.

"Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD .
Blessed are they who keep his statutes
and seek him with all their heart.
They do nothing wrong;
they walk in his ways.
You have laid down precepts
that are to be fully obeyed.
Oh, that my ways were steadfast
in obeying your decrees!
Then I would not be put to shame
when I consider all your commands.
I will praise you with an upright heart
as I learn your righteous laws."
(Psalm 119:1-7)