For many years, I accompanied soloists and choral groups with piano, organ or keyboard. It was a fun time and a growing experience in my musical journey.
The art of accompaniment includes several techniques:
- The accompanist follows rather than leads.
- A good accompanist adds to the performance and does not overshadow the soloist.
- To accompany means to help, but it can also include a few embellishments, chord segues or arpeggios that add richness to the performance.
- Good accompanists are a treasure. Soloists and choir directors seek out only the best.
In her best-selling book, “The Prosperous Heart: Creating a Life of Enough” Julia Cameron introduces the concept of divine accompaniment where God is so close, He goes with us on each journey and throughout our daily tasks.
I love this idea, because I spend so much time in the necessary aloneness of creativity. Sometimes I forget my Husband and Maker is right beside me.
But how does that divine accompaniment work, especially when the “star” of the show is not me but rather – the Divine One?
I like to think of God as walking beside me hand in hand. Together we combine our forces and gifts, the desires of the heart completely intertwined so that it is impossible to tell one from the other.
God adds a score, a lovely embellishment that completes the thought or action I have taken. I use the gifts he has given me to add richness and texture to our journey together.
Although the composition may sometimes feel or sound discordant — in the end, it resolves into a lovely sound that resembles a final Amen.
The Divine One accompanies my writing projects, the relationships I build with clients and friends, the very texture of my life.
And always the reminder within the music of each day: I am never alone. I am accompanied by the Creator of beauty who reverberates his sound within me.
The Divine Accompanist underscores hope and completes his theme with graceful beauty.
©2018 RJ Thesman – All Rights Reserved
The Divine Accompanist shows up in my book Hope Shines – now available in regular and large print.
Rebecca…. This is a beautiful masterpiece! Bravo!!!
Thanks, Deb – appreciate your comment !
Intertwined hearts, God’s and ours, what a worthy aspiration. Thanks for this!
Thanks, Jerry. I just loved this whole idea of divine accompaniment.
The idea of the Creator sitting beside us reminds me of two things:
1) I believe it was C.S. Lewis who said he felt as if he was taking dictation when he wrote.
2) The line of a song: God the Creator enjoys our creating.
Love these points! Thanks, SuZan.