Be Open to Chopin

TO:      Choristers of the Toronto Beach Chorale

Dear Singing Friends,

Yesterday, the government’s announcement that will force the Toronto Beach Chorale to cancel rehearsals for the foreseeable future felt like a detonation in slow motion.  I’m sure you were equally distraught, especially those of you that were planning to return to rehearsals this Wednesday.     

If you wonder when this thing will ever end – when we can bring young ones to sit on Santa’s knee without having to show personal information at his workshop door, when a mask goes back to being something Guy Fawkes impersonators wear, and when you can ask the neighbouring table at the café if you can borrow their salt & pepper  – know that it will end.   

We are not the first people to encounter a wrecking virus, and we won’t be the last. 

Until it ends, I advise a good dose of Chopin.  He will put all your joy, anguish, confusion and love into a brief, 75-measure piano song, where seeds of strength and resolve can find ground.  He did this for me with his Noctune in C sharp minor, which I first heard played in the movie The Pianist and tracked it down.     I studied this piece intently during another challenging time, when my children were young and my marriage was troubled, almost two decades ago.    Now, the lyric threads that the song weaves have helped me grasp COVID, support my family through a fearful time, and bear the loss of a good friend.  I’m sure any of Chopin’s nocturnes, etudes or ballades would have the same grounding effect for those open to musical possibilities.  

As a gift for my birthday last week, my husband, an Emmy-Award winning editor, helped me record this piece.  He also helped me add some visuals from our community that were taken throughout the past 20-month year.  My wish is that you find a bit of hope and resolve in this video.  It is a tribute to our love of classical music, but also to the people and places that inspire us to make music for our community, regardless of the challenges involved.