Make sweet music by tuning to the ‘Perfect A’ sound

My son, Jon, is a professional musician.

He plays with an internationally-acclaimed jazz trio (the Jeff Hamilton Jazz trio). He has toured in a dozen countries; he teaches at the University of Tennessee and he has recorded numerous CDs.

But he did not start out that way.

He got his beginnings when the late Vic Sands introduced him to the upright bass at Cascade Elementary School, and then his interest was encouraged by Greg Metcalf, now deceased, at Park Middle School. My wife and I endured his early years. The screeches and twangs that came from his practice sessions in the house were sometimes very painful.

But he persevered; so did we!

In his sophomore year at Kennewick High School, we began to take him to Spokane to study with a man who had been first-chair in the Leningrad Philharmonic and then the New York Philharmonic, but who came to dislike the large city and moved to Spokane. I remember the day Jon auditioned for this man who took out a tuning fork, hit it, and a perfect “A” tone sounded.

He said to Jon, “Now tune your instrument to that sound.” indicating that all of the strings of the bass had to be tuned in intervals from that single sound.

I have thought often of that since then in regard to life, and the idea of what single motive or purpose governs our lives. We all march to some kind of drummer; we all find something that directs our choices in life.

We may want to be famous or rich or educated or any of a number of things, but something directs our life. For example, Socrates said, “I pray thee, O God, that I may be beautiful within.”

Webster defines purpose as “ ... the reason for which something exists, is done or is made.” Purpose is the “A” sound to which everything in my life aligns. It can produce sweet sounds or ugly noise.

That “A” sound reminds me that sweet sounds result when I am at peace with myself. One famous singer that I read about said she always wanted the intent of her heart to be reflected in her music.

Nobody ever starts out as successful; they progress, improve, change and mature. As we all know, that is both satisfying and painful.

That “A” sound reminds me that I produce sweet sounds when I am at peace with other people.

I had a dear acquaintance whom I used to play music with a lot. He played lead guitar; I played piano. We could “jam” for hours just for the joy of being together and playing music. The last time I saw him, he wanted us to play together; he got out his guitar and we played until his fingers began to hurt from the cancer that would take his life. But we played together.

Our relationships are essential to life’s purpose. Sometimes we joke that life would be great if it weren’t for people, but the truth is that our purpose is found, in part, by the people around us.

That “A” sound reminds me that my purpose is also defined by my relationship with my Creator.

Jesus prayed in the Sermon on the Mount, “Our Father who is in heaven, your name be praised. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:9, 10). Paul the Apostle also lived with a great purpose. He put it like this, “I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet, but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:13, 14).

Purpose is also found in doing God’s will.

Somebody wrote, “God made man (and woman) to be somebody – not just to have things.” He made us to make sweet music in the world around us, tuned to that great single sound of the “perfect A.”

We can make a difference in our world by our presence, even if the sounds start out a little rough!