Tuesday, May 02, 2006

The Great Maestro

I stumbled on this story in The Edge week of May 1-7. The title of the article was "Choosing a Successor" and the first 2 paragraphs began with the below :

It was during one of Paderewski the Great's performances in America that the world-famous pianist displayed his true greatness. Among those present at the concert were a woman and her young son, who the mother hoped would be inspired by watching Paderewski's performance and would thereafter be motivated to practise the piano diligently. The two had arrived early and soon the boy begain to squirm in his seat. While his mother was chatting with some friends, the boy quietly left his seat and made his way to the grand piano at the centre of the huge stage. He innocently sat down, placed his small hands on the keys of the piano and gave his rendition of Chopsticks.

The crowded concert hall fell silent. Hundreds of stunned and embarrassed faces turned in the little boy's direction. It didn't take long before some people began to shout and angrily demand that the boy be removed. Backstage, Paderewskiheard the uproar and rushed to the stage as soon as he realised the cause of it. Without a word or even a bow to the audience, he walked up behind the boy and placed his hands on the keys at either side. Paderewski began to improvise a countermelody to the boy's simple tune. As the two made music together, the pianist kept whispering in the boy's ear not to stop playing. And the concert hall was filled with wonderful music.

Although the article went on about managing succession to family businesses, but I was more reminded on the analogy of the first 2 paragraphs to how God the Great Maestro can craft something beautiful out of our lives.

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