A Minor
We’ve known the Philbrick family for almost ten years through our church, so when Margaret Philbrick asked us to record a piece for the Kindle audio/video version of her new novel, A Minor: A Novel of Love, Music, and Memory, we were so excited to collaborate with her!
As I read the story, I was moved by the intersection of music and the heart-breaking struggle of dementia and Alzheimer’s. In the story, an up and coming piano prodigy hears the news that his teacher has just been diagnosed with early onset dementia and has to come to grips with what that means for their relationship.
I immediately thought of the three months when I served as an intern chaplain at a local convalescence center. So often, when I was overwhelmed by the needs of the residents, I would sit down and play piano for them—mostly old hymns—and pray for them.
There was one woman that I would visit (on an extra-security floor so that she and the other residents could not exit and put themselves in danger). She had dementia, and when I would speak to her, we would cycle through the same conversation every 90 seconds or so as her short term memory lapsed. As she cycled through a conversation, she would almost always ask, “are the children okay?” According to the chaplain, she was likely reliving the anxiety of a traumatic experience over and over in every conversation, not remembering the outcome.
Except when she sang. I’d sit beside her and we’d sing all every verse of her favorite hymns. She knew every lyric—even when I would forgot. In between hymns she would smile at me and ask me, “Do you knew Jesus?”
“Yes” I’d say.
“He’s wonderful!” she’d beam.
In A Minor, one of the characters is playing Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata, Mvt. 2 for the residents at an assisted living facility. After finishing the Beethoven, she begins improvising the hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness. I pictured the rooms where I would play to residents, improvising and moving from song to song, and imagined how the character from Margaret’s book would transition between these two pieces—and how I would. The arrangement I wrote uses the orchestration techniques of Pathetique underneath the melody of Great Is Thy Faithfulness. The improvised verse combines other melodic and accompaniment fragments from Beethoven. I couldn’t believe how well various sections of those pieces naturally intermingled.
Onto this arrangement Bonnie added her inspiring vocals. We chose to include verse two so that she could preach the truth that the Lord gives “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.” When our memories fade or are ripped from us by disease and when our most anxious moments are skipping and repeating in our imaginations like a scratched CD, God’s presence is still here “to cheer and to guide” and to minister joy so sweet to our souls that we beam and speak his name.
As melody unlocks memory, remembrance becomes communion.
It was a joy to to be a part of this collaborative mixed media project and I’d encourage everyone of you to get the Kindle audio/video version and listen to this beautiful story as you read.
Here is the track that Bonnie and I contributed:
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Some photos from production:
