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Welcome to my Blog! Music and God coming together

These regular weekly blogs are giving me an opportunity to share my life-long passion of discoving how the great themes of Music and Theology can come together, and I want to express my deep appreciation of my good friend Dr Paul Kybird for his encouragement, wisdom and deep insight in this adventure.
I have found that the telling of a story by a violin – through its many years of varied experiences – has created a fascinating way of engaging with these ultimate concerns of life.
So here goes –
I am a Violin, with a great story to tell, and on this platform I want to present and play the events of my long life –
By telling about my origins, how I was made, and where I feel my unique sound comes from, engaging with my whole body – mind & heart, violin and bow – in the pursuit of beauty, truth and goodness;
By including the historical soundscapes of the different places I have lived in, and sharing how it feels to be touched and embraced by the rich variety and diversity of musicians who have owned and played me over these many years;
By giving a voice to my emotions at times of suffering, when I was broken, and when I was ‘stolen’, sharing my feelings about the damage inflicted on my body, the permanent blemishes and unexpected ‘growths’;
By sounding out clearly, not supressing or muting, times of rejection, isolation and abuse;
But most importantly, by playing my story for the sheer joy and delight of it, and daring to hope that echoes and whispers of the mystery of God might be caught.
1919 onwards – a ‘bombshell’ from Karl Barth
We now need to go to the historic German town of Marburg, the place from where my rescuer Hans came. Soon after the devastating attack which caused my…
4 min read
1915-1919 War Music – Movement 3
During my life I had the great privilege of playing pieces written by many of the composers who had experienced the Great War first hand, and first ear.…
4 min read
1915 – 1918: War Music Movement 2
I recall many other ‘artistic’ and aesthetic activities in the trenches, including the playing of records (Beethoven, Brahms and Wagner) in an officer’s ‘Quarters’. This was before that…
4 min read
1915 – War Music: Movement 1
Charles Woodhouse & I were aware that, during his stay in 1915 at Thomas Beecham’s Watford home, Frederick Delius came to know some of the teachers at the…
4 min read
Interlude – a bit of a fiddle!
All this talk of my friend Frederick Delius has reminded me of some unexpected and surprising memories. In 1910, Thomas Beecham conducted the premiere of Delius’s new opera…
4 min read
1914 – Musickings around the Great War
Before the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, Charles Woodhouse played with me in an increasing number of works which had been inspired by Folk Songs, many…
4 min read