musical experiment clustered around twelve yearnings to be a rosary that have not yet found their way. . .
O.K. So this is really out there. But I don't know, it might have possibilities, though I haven't got it right yet. I have been writing and recording a lot of music lately as well as rediscovering original music on my computer that I have neglected. As matters of the spirit are always in my consciousness, this is reflected in my music.
I thought somehow I could marry certain tracks focused around mothering and loving God to make a musical rosary. The mothers with their young children are so struggling to hold everything together out where I live. I was trying to draw a line between my work and their spiritual needs. They listen to a lot of music, but prayer is a stretch for them, or perhaps, I should say, not in their natural daily path.
The music works. The references are good. But I have lost the rosary part. What I have created, in a way, is a CD, and that was not my intention. But then, I started to wonder if a CD needs to be just a CD. Can a CD be a kind of rosary? And if so, how do you bring that about?
I have the music. I created a rosary. But now I don't have the rhythm of prayer, which is the intention of the rosary. Still, like the contemplative rosary and the inspirational rosary, the elements are too good to toss out.
I am wondering if with all these three rosaries - the contemplative, the musical and the inspirational - I can develop a new art form of some kind. And perhaps there is again a digital aspect to it.
The rosary is deliberately chunky, which somehow matched the heft of the songs. They are tied to an owl which has significance to me personally. And the owl symbolizes wisdom, patience, and the 'watching over things' that is needed for mothering.
“Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise.”
“Here I am, Lord. Is it I Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.”
“ Do all the good you can
in all the ways you can
in all the places you can
at all the times you can
to all the people you can
as long as you ever can.”
“For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.”
“Just as I am - though toss’d about
With many a conflict, many a doubt,
Fightings and fears within, without,
- O Lamb of God, I come!”
“Look at the nations and watch—
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told.”
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
“Motherhood is all about leaving. Every exhale of breath leaves behind the person you were, every inhale of breath breathes into you that which you are becoming. And so it is for the children, breath in, breath out, a moving target shooting through the cosmos leaving behind what was, leaning into what will be, mother and child dancing together, bound by the tenacious threads of the spirit that hold them in tenderest embrace.”
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
“ Then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.”
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.”