Always keep your eyes on the Conductor

By Mary Regina Morrell
Catholic Online

"My eyes are upon you, O God, my Lord; in you I take refuge . . ." Psalm 141:8

One of my promises to myself during this coming year was to embrace any new opportunities that might come along - to move beyond my comfort zone so I could relish new learning experiences and forge new friendships with the many unique and wonderful people who live and move outside my door.

This is not always an easy thing to do because our hearts and minds are often entangled with an awful four letter word - fear. Certainly, it is no stranger to me!

But my antidote to fear is prayer, so with lots of that and with great determination, I forged ahead to find opportunities aplenty.

One of the most challenging, to date, has been singing with a choir under the direction of Maestro Dimitrios M. Fousteris, music director and conductor of the Hellenic Conservatory of Music. So far, most of the music has been written in Greek. For myself and four friends who have joined in on this adventure, there is new meaning in the phrase, "It's all Greek to me!" The choir is preparing for an impressive production in March, celebrating Greek Independence Day, and includes both a symphony orchestra and members of the Metropolitan Opera. Talk about fear!

Being on the same stage with that many highly trained professionals could strike fear in the bravest of hearts!

Fortunately, I have found that an endearing quality of Maestro Fousteris is his ability to dispel fear. You can leave a grueling rehearsal actually believing that there is nothing strange about the fact that, as a simple parish choir member, you will be singing behind international stars and with an orchestra conductor with 500 concerts throughout Europe and America to his credit.

The key is clear, stresses the Maestro emphatically, "Focus, focus, focus!!" Waving his arms in pure conductor form, he is emphatic, "Do not take your eyes off me!"

He gives us an exercise to sing, "A, E, I, O, U!" We are told to follow his hands and we begin, "A, E...." His hands stop. We don't -- barreling along in full voice, "I, O, U!"

The exercise is repeated four or five times and each time the choir misses the cue and forges ahead like a train unable to stop on the tracks.

Finally, the Maestro reminds us loudly, "Focus!! You must focus on me!"

The next time we get it right, and he smiles.

Soon, I was smiling, too, at the image of God that suddenly occurred to me. The Great Conductor, trying diligently to get us, his children, to "Focus!" while we race ahead with our own way of doing things.

During the past year, in addition to Maestro Fousteris, I have been privileged to sing with an incredibly talented and diverse group of music directors and conductors - Chris, Thom, Eliza and Tim. Though unique in their styles, they have all taught me one thing about the importance of being able to take your eyes off the musical score. It requires that you know the music and have complete faith in the conductor - and focus!

Then, as one of my favorite composers, Robert Schumann, once said about playing (or singing) a musical piece, "When you play, never mind who listens to you. Play always as if in the presence of a master."

For us, as Christians, that would be Master - with a capital M.

Contact

Diocese of Metuchen
http://www.diometuchen.org NJ, US
Mary Regina Morrell - Associate Director, Office of Religious Education, 732 562.1990

Email

mmorrell@diometuchen.org

Keywords

conductor, eyes, God, maestro, opportunities, fear

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