Interlude | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Interlude | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sheri Gordon
08/06/08
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I sat at my mother’s baby grand piano—correction, my baby grand piano—letting my out-of-practice fingers massage the beautiful Ivers & Pond instrument. The smooth texture of the 100-year old ivory keys soothed my shattered spirit like cool balm on sunburned skin. Admittedly, I had looked forward to the time when this magnificent antique would adorn my living room—but that day came twenty years too soon.

Rummaging ravenously through boxes of Mom’s music, I was uncertain as to what I was searching for. But when I came upon it, I knew…this is what I had to play. Surprisingly, or maybe not surprisingly considering my current disillusionment with God, I bypassed literally hundreds of hymn books and “church” music. (And trust me, when you’re mom has been the church organist for fifty years, she owns pretty much every hymn book and “church” piece ever written.) Instead, the musical arrangements I selected to help bring comfort to my soul were songs I played during my adolescent years. Somehow, that put me back in my parents’ house, at this very piano…when the world was right.

I began my private concert with Fur Elise, Bach and Beethoven. After tiring of the classics, I transcended to Exodus and Brian’s Song; releasing frustrations while pounding on the keys during the fortissimo (very loud) phrases. I attempted to sing through free-flowing tears as I gently caressed the piano with My Way, Love Story, and Lost in Your Eyes…”I don’t mind not knowing what I’m headed for. You can take me to the skies.”

Abruptly, I halted my playing and reread the words I had just sung. ”I don’t mind not knowing what I’m headed for. You can take me to the skies.” I studied the words before and after this part of the song, referred to as the bridge of the piece. In musical composition, the bridge is an interlude, or contrasting section, that connects two parts of a composition. I noticed that in this particular song, the lyrics in the bridge brought the singer from questioning what was happening, to fully embracing and trusting the unknown.

That’s what I need God. I need a bridge in my life. I need to be able to let go of the past and trust You to take me to the unknown.

I don’t like where my life is now—I want to go back to how life was before the accident. But that is not possible. I know the bridge of my life will be different from the first part, and different from the next part, and quite possibly will be sung in a different key—something I’m not used to and won’t necessarily find pleasing or soothing to the ear—but I trust that it will provide the harmonic connection between these two distinct parts of my life.

The first phase of the song is over—it’s already been sung. With God as my Conductor, I need to continue playing the piece through the bridge…”I don’t mind not knowing what I’m headed for. You can take me to the skies.” I may only be able to sing those words mezzo-piano (moderately-quiet), but I must sing them.

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“Lost In Your Eyes” words and music by Deborah Gibson. Recorded on Atlantic Records in 1988.

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