Some years ago, I joined a folk ensemble in the hope that this would discipline me to practice and try new tunes – and possibly improve my mandolin playing! The current tutor/leader of the ensemble gives us a new tune each month to practice, which we play together when we next meet.
A tune we were given recently is in 3:2 time and most of the notes are crotchets. I found this tune thoroughly boring to practice and could not understand why we would want to learn it as it would be too boring to play publicly. I developed a distinct dislike for 3:2!
However – what a surprise – when we first played the tune together it sounded great!
What made the difference? The range of sounds from each instrument – accordion, flute, violin, ukulele, guitar, djembe, mandocello, yes even my mandolin – gave the tune colour and texture. The chords played alongside the melody made it clear that the tune was in A Minor not C Major, and that changed the character of the tune.
Around that time, I had been reflecting on the contribution that some people make towards the life of St. Peter’s Baptist Church that goes unnoticed by most of those who attend. We are blessed that so many do contribute and people do so without fuss or drawing attention to what they do – and so not all contributions are recognised. In the same way that my contribution to the sound of the folk ensemble sounds boring in itself, the individual contributions to the life of SPBC may seem small in isolation but all are vital and, together, make SPBC what it is.