This posting’s a little different. It’s a request, to any and all of you out there who might want to take on this project. An amazing project.
Our world is pretty gummed up right now. At least it seems that way, yes? Lot’s of pain, lot’s of apparent injustice. Lot’s of heavy emotion out there.
Well… partly that’s because it’s what we focus on. It’s what the media drives our attention toward.(1)
But we don’t just get the bad that we focus on. We get everything we focus on, whether it shows up in the media or not.
So… let’s give the media something else to talk about. Let’s give the world a Day of Ultimate Grace.
Have you ever heard one of the really, really complexly orchestrated versions of Amazing Grace? The music. Never mind the words — for the moment(2). Currently, the library of Congress (USA) lists over 3,000 versions / recordings of this piece of music.
Woof…
Camera: The show starts. Drone Camera panning high above a mountain peak, in Scotland. Faint solo bag pipe sound, growing slowly louder. Drone camera gradually zooming in on that peak. A lone bag piper stands there giving the opening bars of Amazing Grace. Camera continues to zoom in and circles around him.
Bottom of screen, other windows open up on other bag pipers, full orchestras and high school orchestras, civic theaters, enthusiastic soloists, etc., and as each window focuses for its moment on a given location the music — parallel performance with the lone bag piper — is added to the total sound.
In time, we have 1000’s of channels of music, all perfectly in sync, from all over the world. An event spanning nations, time zones, religions, ethnicities… encompassing All Hopes.
Other pieces of music can be performed after, or in between… surely a reprise of Amazing Grace would be called for, the main event is complete, to fill out, say, a two hour event.
Organized flash crowds in perfect sync with the event. Large monitor screens set up in public squares, in New York, Hong Kong, Moscow, Mumbai, tiny towns most people have never heard of, every otherwise-unoccupied sports stadium… every where. On your lap top. On your cell phone. In your head forever.
Imagine: the entire world playing music together. “I’d like to teach the world to sing,” was the old song. Well, we can do that. The whole world. In the words of any of several badly written Star Trek movies and/or episodes, “We have the technology.”
I have many ideas for how to organize the performance, how to queue the various participants, how folks tuning in can select from the 1000’s of participants, mix several together, or get a automatic randomized mixing as they wish(3). How to prepare for the performance, which is the truly hard part. Just getting 100’s of orchestras world wide and high-schools and civic theaters on board wouldn’t be tooooooo hard, but coordinating it and getting it all put together could be a full time job for some one for 2 years (or more?).
Just the diplomacy necessary to get around possible objections to the song and it’s perceived religious background or such might take considerable skill and careful discussion with some folks, especially certain nations. It can be done, however. (One obvious way is to offer to also include songs of more acceptable or personal nature to those countries, religions, etc. There’s always a way to get people to agree. Always.)
I can’t make this happen myself. I haven’t the skills, I haven’t the connections. But I see it. I want it.
Maybe someone like the Piano Guys (see www.thepianoguys.com — if you don’t already know them and you have any liking for music, you must visit this site: Joyous Geniuses) and/or John Williams and/or Hans Zimmer to orchestrate the many versions: orchestral, bagpipe only, bagpipe in combination with high-schoolers, flute and harpsicord only(4), solo versions, etc., probably (a la Piano Guys, again) with other themes woven in. Point / Counter-Point.
A day of Ultimate Grace for the World.
We choose our experiences. All of us. We see what we focus on. There are at least as many Grand and Good things happening “out there” as there are bad. Probably more, in fact, but who can really tell when the media focuses on the bad and dire, the adrenalin-pumping items, properly spun to squeeze just a little more adrenalin from you.
Let’s force upon the media a full hour of reporting on something incredible, something joyous, something … well, Amazing. And what a memory for the world to carry around with it from that point on, yes?
Somebody… take this idea and run with it. Please!
Amazing Grace
That saved a wretch2 like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood, His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free (been set free)
My God, my Savior has ransomed me (ransomed me)
And like a flood (like a flood) His mercy rains (mercy rains)
Unending love, oh, Amazing grace
The Earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood, His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace (grace)
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind (was blind), but now (but now) I see
[30]
(1) A lot of news casters in the media actually, honestly believe that their job is to deliver the dire and mean and awful news that happens each day. I actually heard an interview with a newscaster — some brand-name fellow whose name I don’t recall — complaining, quite sincerely (this was back around 2008) how hard it was getting to find an hour’s worth of bad news every day (I am not making it up). He was quite sincere, and I know he did not realize what he had just said, because to him it was his job and the job of all newscasters to report the News, meaning Bad News. Good news isn’t news, apparently. In the words that the great sage and eminent philosopher: “Phooey.”
(2) The words to Amazing Grace have always struck me as needlessly negative, as needlessly groveling. A positive rewording of the traditional verses, gently and diplomatically done, would be in order for this event. God doesn’t need us to grovel; that’s just silly — though sometimes we need to grovel. Fine do it, but don’t blame it on God. In a future update to this posting, it’s possible I’ll even post a proposed rewording. I have connections for people who are awfully good at that, at least. 🙂 For instance, just changing the the word “wretch” to “soul” would make the song more palatable to me, at least. What do you think?
(3) Some technology to sync up the performances, which might be unavoidably off by small intervals with each other, also to allow for internet lag in the many places around the world, would have to be arranged. Big servers, a lot of streaming, just for this event, a central mixing console (the size of a football stadium? Probably not). As I said, a Very Large Project.
(4) Alright, maybe I’m waxing silly there, but is it really outside the possibilities?