Music
It takes abundant courage for me to write about music because I know very little about it. I know what I like and what I don’t have a preference for. That’s about it.
Last night at dinner, my son and I were listening to the Diana Krall Christmas CD. She sings a version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas and she does an interesting treatment of the lyrics “through the years” towards the end of the song. To my ear she elongates each word and they seem to blend well – throooughtheyeeeears. I said that I like that. My son said it was a musical style known as Legato. It literally means tied together.
He went on to explain Legato’s counterpart – Staccato. Staccato means the notes are played separate and distinct – no blending.
It seemed like the energy of yin and yang to me – opposite ends of the same.
Legato seems to be the yielding, no effort, accepting female energy of the duality known as yin.
Staccato to me represents the activeness or fire usually associated with the male energy known as yang.
There is an abruptness to male energy just as in Staccato. There seems to be a lot of concentrated activity with male energy and this style of music. It reminds me of an actor delivering lines he hasn’t quite yet memorized. There is an “at war” feel to this approach – a striving.
Legato seems to exude easiness. It is like the effortless yielding associated with yin.
The old adage, “You can’t live with them and you can’t live without them” comes to mind. These two energy forces make the world go round and we have both of these energies within us.
The human situation is that we tend to depend on one and deny the other. That always causes consternation.
When you see two people who have just taken dance lessons, it’s quite obvious that they are working at it (yang). It has no flow (yin). Contrast that to two people floating across the dance floor. Yes, you can break their routine down to an Arthur Murray recipe but that’s only part of the equation. The blending of the two energies is what makes the dancers appear as one flowing unit.
Unless you are dancing with someone you don’t like, the purpose of the dance is not to get to the end. The purpose of the dance is to dance. Yes it has a beginning and an end but the focus is not on either. Its purpose is to have two dancers appear as one with the natural ebb and flow movements that make up our universe and our lives.
I guess my message is to appreciate the parts that make up the whole and to incorporate those energies into your life. The book of Ecclesiastes tells us, “To everything there is a season, a time to sow and a time to reap.” They are separate actions that make up the whole. You can’t have one without the other.
Blend the staccato and legato energies into your life. Dance the dance and reap more bountiful crops.
All the best,
John
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