Music & Rituals

 

 As a young flute player aiming to become a professional musician, I have played in many rituals and ceremonies like Sunday morning church services, Celtic prayer evenings, Funerals, and many events surrounding Christmas. Funerals are honestly quite difficult for me due to memories surrounding my father’s death, but I’ve come to realize that music is something to help me get through it. One of the most important women in my life, Elizabeth Abel, passed away a few months ago, and I traveled home to play flute for her service. For a little bit of backstory, Elizabeth was a kind woman we met at church years ago. In fifth grade, I missed over a month of school feeling extremely weak and sick (eventually diagnosed as Hashimodo’s Disease). My mom worked full time and someone needed to stay home to care for me. Elizabeth stayed with me every day, making me feel safe and teaching me to crochet and knit to pass the time. She was a mentor for me up to her death.

I chose “Spring” by Herman Beeftink to play for Elizabeth’s service because I knew it was a piece she would have loved.

I was worried about choking up while I played, but about halfway through my piece I felt the engagement of the entire congregation as they listened to me play for her. It was raw and extremely powerful to recognize the effect music can have on a group of people grieving a loved one. 

Here I am with Elizabeth after we planted a tree for a community garden. 

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of rituals involving music is, of course, Christmas. My first experience playing with a full orchestra was during a service called “Lights Up!” put on by a local church in Charleston. We played your standard Christmas pieces like “Silent Night” and “Joy to The World” with more upbeat arrangements than we usually hear. I played a piccolo feature or a fun arrangement of “I Saw Three Ships”. I can’t find the exact arrangement we played online, but it looked about like this.

This is me and my high school flute lessons teacher, Julie Diamond after playing for this event.