I still remember my last piano recital. I was one of the senior students, so I was one of the last to perform. I sat, palms sweaty and heart thumping wildly for an hour as the minutes ticked by until my turn came.
When I heard my teacher call my name, my stomach fell as I rose to my feet. I approached the piano aware of the rapt attention of the audience. I sat down and had to wipe my hands on the legs before playing. And then, heart thumping loudly enough to be a metronome, I played Claude Debussy’s beloved “Clair de Lune.”
I learned a lot about life from “Clair de Lune.” If you don’t work hard, it will show (and your piano teacher will definitely know). Or, there are some things in life you just cannot put off until the last minute and expect to do well. But the most profound thing I learned along my journey with piano is that the right notes at the wrong times are actually the wrong notes.
“Clair de Lune” and the Difficulty of Timing
When I decided to play “Clair de Lune,” I was not ready for how difficult the song would be. I typically played music from the Baroque or Classical periods (my favorite song that I learned how to play was Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”), so I had some trouble with “Clair de Lune,” which is from the Impressionist period. See, playing the notes for “Clair de Lune” isn’t all that difficult. The timing of the notes, however, proved to be the bane of my existence.
The beauty of the song is caught up in the timing. A second too early and the tranquility of the song would evaporate. A second too late and the peace would linger long enough to be uncomfortable. Even if I played the right notes, I had to play them at the exact moment they were intended to be played.
I see this truth working itself out in everyday life. As Christians, we want to encourage and exhort our brothers and sisters to spur them on to love and good deeds. But, we also want to give the encouragement and exhortation at the right time. Solomon reminds us, “Like apples of gold in settings of silver, is a word spoken at the proper time” (Proverbs 25:11).
Perhaps the right word too early and a newly minted friendship is broken. Perhaps the right word a little too late and the friend has already embarked down a road that he can’t turn back.
We always hear it’s not what you say but how you say it. Maybe it would also be fair to say it’s not how you say it as much as when you say it.
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